September 15 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Oklahoma City Baseball Club

TACOMA RAINIERS (78-65) @ OKLAHOMA CITY BASEBALL CLUB (74-69)
Sunday, September 15 • 12:05 PM PT • Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark • Oklahoma City, OK
RHP Casey Lawrence (10-10, 6.08) vs. RHP Tony Gonsolin (0-0, 0.00)

TODAY’S GAME: Tacoma and Oklahoma City will play the sixth and final game of their series today, with a pitching rematch from Tuesday’s series opener. Casey Lawrence will toe the rubber for the Rainiers, facing the Baseball Club for the second time this series and third of the season. The right-hander tossed 4.1 innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out one in that game, looking for more depth in the finale today. Opposite Lawrence will be Tony Gonsolin taking the ball for Oklahoma City, also making his second start of the series and season. Gonsolin pitched in his first game of the year back on Tuesday, allowing two hits over 2.0 scoreless innings. He struck out three of the eight batters he faced, throwing 24 of his 32 pitches for strikes. The 30-year-old is returning from Tommy John surgery, as Tuesday was his first outing since landing on the injured list with right forearm inflammation back on Aug. 19 of last season.

LIKELY THE LAST ONE: Tacoma enters today’s game 4.5 games out of the second half playoff race with just seven games left on the season. With making the playoffs looking less and less likely, the Rainiers could be playing their last road game of the 2024 season today. Tacoma has struggled on the road in comparison to at home this season, going 34-40 on the road compared to 44-25 at home. After losing last night’s game, the Rainiers have no chance at winning the series, but enter play today hoping for just their second series split on the road this year. They enter today’s finale with a 4-1-7 series record away from Cheney Stadium this year, going 9-3-1 in series at home.

STREAKS SNAPPED: Both Tyler Locklear and Jake Slaughter had their extended hitting streaks end last night, as Tacoma’s lineup combined for just three hits between two players. Locklear entered last night’s game with an eight-game hitting streak, tying his season high. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts hitting cleanup for Tacoma last night, ending the streak. Slaughter was also on a season-long 10-game hitting streak spanning from Sept. 3 – 13. Over that stretch, he raised his batting average 10 points, from .261 to .271.

JUST THE BOTTOM: Tacoma’s offense struggled to get anything going last night, scoring three runs on just three hits. Two of their three hits were doubles, including a two-run double from Michael Papierski in the second inning that gave the Rainiers an early 2-1 lead. Papierski collected two of Tacoma’s three total hits out of the eight-hole, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and his two-run double. The only other player with a hit was Kobe Kato batting ninth for the Rainiers, as he went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a strikeout.

INNINGS EATER: Today’s starter, Casey Lawrence, comes into today’s game having racked up quite the statistical line this season. He leads the team with 10 wins, putting him second among qualified Pacific Coast League pitchers, but also leads the team with 10 defeats. He has made the most starts of any Tacoma pitcher this year with 27, second in the league, covering the most innings on both the team and in the PCL with 154.0 entering today’s game. Eating innings is nothing new for Lawrence, as the veteran will eclipse 1600.0 career MiLB innings with two outs today. He has pitched professionally since 2010 and has thrown over 100.0 combined innings in every season besides 2010, and 2019-21. Over all of that time, Lawrence has logged 124.0 career Major League innings, including 27.1 last season with St. Louis.

BACK IN THE LINEUP: Ryan Bliss rejoined Tacoma’s lineup for the first time this series last night, with Sunday’s finale against Albuquerque being his most recent game prior to last night’s action. Bliss went 0-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base in the game, hitting second and playing shortstop. Bliss’ bat adds speed and depth to Tacoma’s offense, but his glove may be an even bigger factor. He plays all over the diamond and has even started playing outfield this year, giving Manager John Russell more flexibility with his defense than he has had for the first few games of the series. Bliss showed some of his speed off when he stole his 45th base of the season last night, tying him for second in the PCL and second on his own team, one behind Samad Taylor.

AGAINST OKLAHOMA CITY: Oklahoma City regained the series lead with their win last night, taking a 3-2 advantage in their current series. Their win also tied the season series at 7-7 entering the 15th and final game between the two teams this afternoon. Tacoma still holds the all-time series lead over the Baseball Club by four games, at 100-96.

SHORT HOPS: Despite playing in 113 games for Tacoma this year, last night was the first time all season that Jason Vosler has hit third in the order; it comes as a surprise because he has been a fixture in the middle of the Rainiers’ lineup virtually all season, batting fourth 32 times, fifth 56 times and sixth 17 times…Tacoma had limited opportunities to score last night with just three total hits, but went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, missing out on some opportunities to score more…Reno beat Sugar Land 4-2 last night, extending their second half lead in the standings to 4.5 games ahead of Tacoma entering play today…Tacoma’s two errors dropped them to sixth in the PCL with 107 committed.