June 26 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Sugar Land Space Cowboys

TACOMA RAINIERS (43-33) @ SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (50-26)
Wednesday, June 26 • 5:05 PM PT • Constellation Field • Sugar Land, TX
LHP Rob Kaminsky (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Conner Greene (5-1, 3.93)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Space Cowboys will play game two of their series tonight, with Sugar Land leading the series after taking the opener last night. Rob Kaminsky will get the start for Tacoma, set to make his first start and second appearance of the season for the Rainiers. In his first game of the year, back on June 21, the southpaw spun a scoreless inning. He walked two and struck out a batter, inducing a double play to get out of trouble. Tonight will be his first start in professional baseball since he made a spot-start last year for the Rainiers, on May 10 against Reno. Opposite Kaminsky will be Conner Greene taking the ball for Sugar Land, set to make his second start in his 23rd appearance of the year. Greene enters play tonight with a 5-1 record and a 3.93 ERA through his first 22 games, allowing 15 earned runs on 33 hits and 15 walks. He has fanned 36 batters over his 34.1 innings pitched, throwing 92 of his 139 total pitches this year for strikes. The 29-year-old’s longest outing of the season came back on May 3 when he threw 3.0 innings against El Paso.

KEEP IT IN THE YARD: Over Tacoma’s last two games, they have allowed eight home runs, including six given up by the starting pitchers. Their six home runs allowed in Sunday’s finale against the Aviators tied the most they have allowed in a single game all season. Last night, Sugar Land got two long balls in the same inning, doubling their lead from 3-0 to 6-0 in the fifth inning. After six home runs allowed in the last two games from Tacoma’s starting pitchers, they have now given up 58 deep balls on the season. Just over 10% of the Rainiers’ starters’ total home runs surrendered this season have now come in the last two games, as Casey Lawrence allowed four over three innings pitched, and Michael Mariot gave up six in his six innings pitched.

BACK IN ACTION: Tyler Locklear rejoined the Tacoma Rainiers last night, going 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts out of the cleanup spot. With the hitless outing, the first basemen snapped an eight-game hitting streak he was riding from the last time he was with Tacoma. In that 10-game stint, Locklear hit .323 (10-for-31) with two doubles, a triple and a home run. He drove in six runs, taking six walks compared to eight strikeouts and went hitless just once, in his second game at Triple-A. The 23-year-old will look to settle back into a rhythm after being up with Seattle from June 9-24. His last game with Seattle came on June 21, meaning last night was his first time playing in three days, the longest stretch he has gone all year without playing in a game.

STEPPING IN: Tonight’s game was supposed to be started by Dallas Keuchel for the Tacoma Rainiers, but the veteran left-hander was traded yesterday to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash considerations. Taking his spot in the rotation will be Rob Kaminsky, who was recently signed by Seattle to a minor league contract. He signed with the Mariners on June 17 and was added to Tacoma’s roster on June 18, pitching in his first game with the Rainiers on June 21. Prior to re-signing with Seattle, the 29-year-old was playing in the Independent League on the Staten Island FerryHawks. He was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA through two starts, allowing five earned runs on 10 hits and five walks while striking out five over his 6.2 innings pitched. Tonight will be his second appearance and first start of the season for the Rainiers, entering play with a 0.00 ERA after throwing a scoreless inning of relief against Las Vegas last Friday.

EXTRA, EXTRA: Tacoma couldn’t get much going offensively last night, scoring just one run on six hits in their 6-1 loss to the first-half champions. The Rainiers did bring the power, however, as three of their six hits went for extra bases. Luis Urias and Seby Zavala each doubled while Cade Marlowe scored the only run of the game for Tacoma with his solo home run.

AGAINST SUGAR LAND: Tacoma dropped the opener against Sugar Land last night, moving to 0-1 on the season against the Space Cowboys and overall in the second half. Last night was the first time the two teams have met all season, and the Space Cowboys increased their lead in the all-time series to three games, at 17-14 over Tacoma. The Rainiers and Space Cowboys will meet for game two of their current six-game set tonight and game two of 12 between the two teams this season.

SHORT HOPS: Ty Buttrey and Jordan Holloway combined to throw two scoreless innings for the Rainiers last night, striking out five of the six batters they retired…in his first game since being sent outright to Tacoma, catcher Seby Zavala went 1-for-3 with a double…Cade Marlowe hit his 10th home run of the season in last night’s loss, good for second amongst Rainiers’ players; it was his eighth solo home run of the year, which is the most solo home runs for any Rainiers’ player this season... last night’s loss put Tacoma at 0-1 in the second half of the season, marking the first time all year in which they have been below the .500-mark; they are still 10 games over .500 on the season combined, at 43-33.