July 24 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Oklahoma City Baseball Club

TACOMA RAINIERS (55-42) @ OKLAHOMA CITY BASEBALL CLUB (48-49)
Wednesday, July 24 • 5:05 PM PT • Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark • Oklahoma City, OK
RHP Blas Castano (2-0, 2.76) vs. RHP Hyun-il Choi (2-3, 4.15)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Tacoma Rainiers and Oklahoma City Baseball Club will play game two of their six-game series tonight, with the Rainiers leading the series 1-0 after last night’s victory. Tacoma will send Blas Castano to the mound set to make his fourth start of the year. The right-hander has been great so far for the Rainiers, entering play tonight with a 2-0 record and a 2.76 ERA through his first three starts. He has gone at least 5.0 innings in all three games, allowing four earned runs back on June 6 but just one combined over his other two. Tonight will be his first career matchup against Oklahoma City, as he will look to get back on the winning track after receiving a no-decision last time out. Opposite Castano will be Hyun-il Choi taking the ball for the Baseball Club. Choi enters tonight’s game with a 2-3 record and a 4.15 ERA through eight starts, allowing 18 earned runs on 32 hits and 18 walks. He has struck out 29 batters over his 39.0 innings and opponents are hitting .225 against him.

BACK IN ACTION: After hitting .220 (13-for-59) in 31 games with Seattle, infielder Ryan Bliss was optioned to Tacoma on July 22 and is expected to be activated prior to tonight’s game against Oklahoma City. Before getting his contract selected back on May 27, Bliss had played in 50 games for Tacoma and was hitting .247 (45-for-182) over that span. The 24-year-old hit nine doubles, three triples and seven home runs, driving in 35 runs and walking 39 times compared to striking out 50 times. He stole 28 bases and got caught six times, still ranking in the top-10 (T-3rd) among Pacific Coast League players in stolen bases.

MAKE IT 12: Although it wasn’t perfect, Trevor Kelley had yet another scoreless relief appearance last night. He allowed two hits and a walk, but struck out both batters he retired to put up another zero, lowering his ERA on the year to 3.79. Kelley has pitched in 35 games for Tacoma this season, allowing 12 earned runs on 34 hits and 25 walks while striking out 44 batters over that span. He has earned just one save in five opportunities but has nine holds and has finished six games. His 38.2 innings rank second on Tacoma’s roster and his 35 appearances are tied for fifth among Pacific Coast League pitchers.

DO IT WITH TWO: Oklahoma City got two outs on Tacoma relatively quickly multiple times last night, but that is when the Rainiers heated up. Tacoma scored all 10 of their runs in last night’s 10-4 victory with two outs, getting help from two big errors. The Baseball Club’s starter, Alec Gamboa, was pulled after just 2.2 innings, allowing nine runs including just one earned run. Even with their 10 two-out runs, Tacoma still left nine runners on-base and went 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

TWO MORE: Duke Ellis came through with two more hits in last night’s game, raising his batting average to .296 (8-for-27) in nine games with the Rainiers. Ellis had his second consecutive multi-hit game and fifth straight game with at least one hit. The outfielder was added to Tacoma’s roster on July 6 after getting claimed off waivers from the New York Mets. Ellis has driven in at least one run in all but one game that he has played with the Rainiers and recorded one at-bat. In four games since the All-Star break, he is slashing .500/.583/.700, tying for sixth in the PCL over that span.

A FIRST FOR EVERYTHING: Kobe Kato made his Triple-A debut with Tacoma last night and was a big part of the Rainiers’ series opening victory. The infielder collected a three-hit game, going 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three runs driven in out of the nine-hole. Kato used RBI singles in both the second and third innings, starting the scoring for the Rainiers with his two-out single in the second. His third hit of the game came in the ninth inning, as his third hit of the game went into left field. The 25-year-old not only got in on the fun with three hits, but he also carried it into being a base runner, stealing the lone base of the game for Tacoma.

SET A NEW ONE: Tacoma has the opportunity to set a new season long winning streak with a victory tonight, entering play having won four games in a row for the fourth time this year. They earned a three-game sweep over the Reno Aces at home and won last night’s opener, taking all four games so far out of the All-Star break.

ZEROES FOR DAYS: Michael Mariot started yesterday’s game with 5.0 scoreless innings, as Oklahoma City didn’t score until there was one out in the sixth. That broke a scoreless innings streak of 19.2 innings for Tacoma’s pitching staff. Dating back to Saturday’s game against Reno, the Rainiers had six pitchers combine to throw 19.2 consecutive scoreless innings. Their previous long on the season with 16.0 innings, from June 14-16 at Round Rock.

AGAINST OKLAHOMA CITY: Tacoma and Oklahoma City will meet for game two of their six-game series tonight, with Tacoma leading the series by a game after last night’s victory. With their win last night, Tacoma now holds a 3-1 season series lead over the Baseball Club, outscoring them by six runs, at 25-19. Their three wins this year puts their overall all-time record against Oklahoma City at 96-90.

SHORT HOPS: The Rainiers stole their 200th base of the season last night, as Kobe Kato, in his Triple-A debut, stole his first base of the year…last night was Tacoma’s 50th win of the season when they score four or more runs, moving to 50-22 in that scenario…Tacoma is now 13 games over .500 for the first time this year, surpassing the 12-game mark they had reached three times...after a win and another Reno loss last night, the Rainiers are just 2.5 games behind the Aces for the top-spot in the PCL West Division in the second half standings.