June 15 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Round Rock Express

TACOMA RAINIERS (37-30) @ ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (33-33)
Saturday, June 15 • 5:15 PM PT • Dell Diamond • Round Rock, TX
LHP Dallas Keuchel (5-4, 4.58) vs. RHP Peter Solomon (0-3, 9.15)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Express are set to play game five of their six-game set tonight, with Tacoma in search of their third straight win to take the series. Dallas Keuchel will take the ball for the Rainiers, ready to make his 12th start of the season. The southpaw is 5-4 with a 4.58 ERA through his first 11 starts, allowing 30 earned runs on 57 hits and 20 walks while striking out 35 batters over his 59.0 innings. He will face his former team (four starts in 2022) for the first time since 2012. Opposite Keuchel will be Peter Solomon toeing the rubber for Round Rock, entering play tonight with an 0-3 record and a 9.15 ERA through five starts. The right-hander has allowed 21 earned runs on 28 hits and 10 walks, striking out 18 batters in his 20.2 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .322 against him over that span, clubbing six home runs along the way.

NAIL BITERS: Tacoma is 7-3 over their last 10 games, outscoring their opponents by 25 runs over that span, at 67-42. A big reason for their run differential is each of their three losses in that 10-game span have come by just one run. They lost 4-3 on June 6 to Reno, 6-5 on June 9 to the Aces, and their lone loss of the current series to Round Rock came on June 12 by a score of 3-2. The Rainiers have played many close games over the stretch, also winning two extra-inning games by one run as part of their seven victories. On the season, Tacoma is 37-30 entering play tonight with a +58-run differential, scoring 390 runs compared to 332 allowed.

QUITE SOME TIME: Tacoma could win the series with a victory tonight, which is not something they have been able to accomplish away from home for quite some time. The Rainiers haven’t won a road series since their very first road trip of the year, taking four-of-six from Salt Lake back on April 2-7. Since then, they have lost four road series in a row, dropping to 1-4 in their five road trips prior to the current one. They have not had the same struggles at home, where they are 5-1-0 in their six series. Tacoma has been a much better team at Cheney Stadium than away from it this year, going 22-11 at home and just 15-19 on the road. Their wins the past two nights were the first back-to-back road wins since April 16-17 against Las Vegas, prior to losing each of the next four games to drop the series.

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN: Tacoma moved to seven games over .500 with their victory last night, marking the first time since April 28 that they have been seven games over even. Back on April 28, Tacoma was 17-10 after taking three straight games against El Paso. A win tonight would put them at eight games over .500 for the first time since April 16 (12-4) and one shy of their season-best nine games over even, when they were 13-4 back on April 17.

MR. CLUTCH: Jason Vosler came through in the clutch again for Tacoma last night, clubbing a two-run, game-tying home run in the eighth inning. The utility-man had knocked in the second run of the game in the first inning with an RBI single to grow Tacoma’s lead to 2-0 at the time, but stepped up to the plate in a much bigger spot in the eighth. With two outs and a runner on second, trailing by two, Vosler hit a 2-1 pitch 414 feet to tie the game. It eventually went into extras and turned into Tacoma’s second straight win. Vosler leads the team in hits (67), doubles (11), home runs (12) and runs batted in (46). He also leads the team with 21 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games. His 46 RBI and runs scored are eighth and tied for eighth among qualified Pacific Coast League hitters.

KEEP IT GOING: Tacoma’s starter tonight, Dallas Keuchel, has had a good run of outings recently. The southpaw started the year with a 2-0 record and a 0.90 ERA through his first two starts, but then lost four of his next five games. Since allowing six earned runs on May 23 against Las Vegas, Keuchel has turned it around. The veteran has allowed just four combined earned runs over his last three outings dating back to May 29 against Sacramento. Over that span, he has surrendered 10 hits and nine walks, striking out 10 over his 16.0 innings pitched. In two of the three games, Keuchel allowed just one hit, including his most recent outing against Reno on June 9. He did walk five batters in that game, but allowed just one hit while striking out two, lowering his ERA to 4.58 through 11 starts.

AGAINST ROUND ROCK: Tacoma and Round Rock will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with the Rainiers looking for the series victory. Tacoma enters tonight leading the current series 3-1 and the all-time series 57-41 after back-to-back wins. Their three wins this series are already one more than they had all of last year at Dell Diamond (2-4) and one shy of the total wins against Round Rock they recorded last year in 15 games played (4-11).

SHORT HOPS: Last night was Tacoma’s first extra-inning victory on the road and their third overall, moving to 3-2 in extras this season…the Rainiers enter play tonight with an 0-4 record in Saturday road games, still in search of their first win; they are 4-6 overall in Saturday games this year…Jonatan Clase has reached base in 36 of the 39 games he has played this year with Tacoma, cracking into the leaderboard for qualified players in the PCL with a .397 on-base percentage... Jordan Holloway struck out the side in a scoreless ninth inning last night to earn his second win of the year; it marks the second straight night a Rainiers’ reliever has retired the side in order with strikeouts, as Carlos Vargas did so in the eighth inning of Thursday’s win.