June 27 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Sugar Land Space Cowboys

TACOMA RAINIERS (44-33) @ SUGAR LAND SPACE COWBOYS (50-27)
Thursday, June 27 • 5:05 PM PT • Constellation Field • Sugar Land, TX
RHP Logan Gragg (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP A.J. Blubaugh (5-2, 3.58)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Sugar Land will play game three of their series tonight with the series even at one game apiece. The Rainiers will look for their second consecutive win, sending Logan Gragg to the mound. Gragg was recently promoted from Double-A Arkansas, where he went 2-0 with a 6.12 ERA in 12 relief appearances. In those games, he allowed 17 earned runs on 27 hits and nine walks, striking out 26 batters over his 25.0 innings. Tonight will be his second game and first start with the Rainiers after throwing 2.1 scoreless, hitless innings of relief back on June 12 against Round Rock. It will be his first start since last season, when he started 19 combined games between Double-A Springfield and Triple-A Memphis in St. Louis’ system. Opposite Gragg will be A.J. Blubaugh getting the start for the Space Cowboys, entering play with a 5-2 record and a 3.58 ERA. The right-hander has pitched in 13 games making 12 starts for Sugar Land, allowing 24 earned runs on 59 hits and 24 walks while striking out 56 batters over his 60.1 innings pitched.

BRING ‘EM IN: Tacoma drove in 14 runs on 12 hits including three home runs in their 14-2 victory over Sugar Land last night. Two of those runs scored on a deep fly off the bat of Jason Vosler, his team-leading 16th home run of the season. His 16 home runs ties him for fourth in the Pacific Coast League among qualified hitters. His two runs batted in gave him 61 on the season, also leading the Rainiers and tying him for second in the PCL in that category. His 16 multi-RBI games are the most on Tacoma and he is the only player on the active roster with double-digit multi-RBI games. The top four run producers in the league are all playing in this series, as Sugar Land’s Shay Whitcomb leads the league with 66, while Jesus Bastidas and Pedro Leon are tied with Vosler in second with 61.

WINNER WINNER: Matt Bowman won his second consecutive game last night, allowing one earned run over his 2.0 innings pitched. Bowman has spun 2.0 innings in each of his last two games for Tacoma, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out five batters over that span. The right-hander now holds a 2-0 record and a 3.00 ERA through seven relief appearances for the Rainiers, giving up three earned runs over his 9.0 innings worked. Seattle signed the 33-year-old back on June 4, selected his contract on June 9 and designated him for assignment on June 11 after one outing with the Mariners. They renegotiated a new contract and signed him on June 16, where he has pitched for the Rainiers ever since.

A LATE SCRATCH: For the second consecutive game, Tacoma’s projected starter has now been scratched, as Jhonathan Diaz will no longer make his start tonight. The league leader in wins was set to make his 14th start of the season for Tacoma tonight, but will no longer do that, as Logan Gragg will get the nod. Last night, Rob Kaminsky was named the starter after projected starter Dallas Keuchel got traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash considerations. Losing two starters in a series is taxing on the bullpen, which will be all hands on deck for tonight’s game against the Space Cowboys.

SNEAD’S STRUGGLES: Kirby Snead was stellar for Tacoma to begin the season, pitching to a 2.92 ERA through his first 12 games. Over that span, he allowed four earned runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out 13 batters over 12.1 innings pitched. That was enough to get his contract selected by Seattle and spend over a month with the Mariners prior to getting designated for assignment and returning to Tacoma. In his first outing back with the Rainiers, it was more of the same, tossing a scoreless inning on June 20 against Las Vegas, striking out one of the three batters he faced. Since then, however, it has been a struggle for the southpaw. Snead has allowed eight earned runs over his past two outings, giving up four hits and six walks in the 1.2 innings pitched. In his first 13 games of the year for Tacoma, he walked just two batters and has now surrendered three free passes in back-to-back games.

MAKING IT COUNT: With Seby Zavala recently joining Tacoma’s roster, the Rainiers now hold three active catchers. Catchers typically alternate games in Triple-A, playing three times a week. With three active catchers, however, it will mean more limited playing time for all of them. Last night, Michael Perez made the case for him to stay in the lineup, registering three hits out of the nine-hole. The 31-year-old went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a home run, two runs batted in and a walk last night, contributing in a big way to Tacoma’s 14 runs on 12 hits. Perez is also getting it done behind the plate, throwing out 29% of attempted base stealers. Pitchers have a 3.92 ERA when he is behind the dish through his first 108.0 innings this year for the Rainiers, the lowest number of any catcher Tacoma has had this season.

WHAT AN EFFORT: In his first start of the season and just his second appearance for Tacoma this year, Rob Kaminsky delivered in a big way. The southpaw tossed four scoreless innings, working around five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. He was given 11 runs of support through those four frames but kept focused and gave Tacoma a quality outing. His four innings allowed just three relievers to be used on a day in which the Rainiers’ projected starter for the week was traded.

AGAINST SUGAR LAND: The Rainiers and Space Cowboys will play game three of their six-game series tonight, with the series tied at one game apiece. Tacoma blew Sugar Land away last night, using a 10-run third inning to win 14-2, evening the series. They are now 1-1 on the season and Tacoma trails the all-time series against the Space Cowboys by two games, at 17-15.

SHORT HOPS: Infielder Leo Rivas scored four times in last night’s victory, marking the first time a Rainiers’ player has scored four times in a game all season; they had had a player score three times in a single game 15 times entering play last night…eight of Tacoma’s nine starters recorded at least one hit last night while seven of the nine drove in at least one run…last night’s three hour, 21-minute game was the longest nine inning game of the season so far for Tacoma, coming in eight minutes shorter than their longest game of the year overall.