Rainiers wrap winning trip, swat Bees 5-3

Salt Lake City, UT (6/9/22) – The Tacoma Rainiers (21-35) took a three-game series from the Salt Lake Bees (30-27) on Thursday afternoon, capping a winning road trip (5-4) with a 5-3 victory. Rainiers right-hander Darren McCaughan (5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) stymied Salt Lake early before a quartet of Tacoma bullpen arms made it a wire-to-wire win for the visitors.

In all three games of the series, the Rainiers sprinted to a 5-0 lead before Salt Lake scored. Erick Mejia (2-for-3) led off the second inning with an automatic double that bounced off the warning track, and eventually scored following a pair of Bees errors. Alex Blandino made it 2-0 with an RBI double to left field.

Tacoma tacked on three more runs in the third, when Joe Odom and Mejia were each hit by a pitch, both scoring on a Marcus Wilson double yanked down the line in left, into the corner. Wilson would score a batter later, on an Andrew Knapp single to right.

The Bees charged their first two runs to McCaughan in the fourth, when Jake Gatewood hit his second homer of the season after a Matt Thaiss walk, making it a 5-2 game. McCaughan would throw 85 pitches, and 53 for strikes to pickup the winning decision.

Rainiers relievers Fernando Abad, Patrick Weigel (BB, 2 K) and Nick Margevicius (3 K) each worked a scoreless, hitless inning to protect the lead, on a day the lineups combined for only 13 hits (seven for Tacoma). Salt Lake used six different pitchers on a bullpen day.

With the score still 5-2 in the ninth, Monte Harrison added a homer (4) for the Bees, but the solo shot was merely a footnote as Matt Koch finished off his second save this season with a strikeout.

The Rainiers will begin a nine-game homestand on Friday at Cheney Stadium, with the opener of three games against the Round Rock Express, the first meeting of those clubs this season. RHP Konner Wade is Tacoma’s scheduled starter.

All 2022 Rainiers games, home and away, can also be heard for free on the MiLB First Pitch app. HD video broadcasts of every home game can be viewed with a MiLB.TV subscription.

About the Tacoma Rainiers

The Tacoma Rainiers are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The Rainiers are a member of the Pacific Coast League and have been a Mariners affiliate since establishing the Rainiers moniker in 1995.

The most up-to-date news and notes about the Tacoma Rainiers and Cheney Stadium can be found at WeRTacoma.com, or by following the Rainiers on Twitter (@RainiersLand), Instagram (@tacomarainiers) and liking the team on Facebook.