TACOMA RAINIERS (79-66) vs. ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (69-74)
Wednesday, September 18 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Nick Payero (0-0, 1.80) vs. RHP Ryan Garcia (2-3, 3.08)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Round Rock will play game two of their six-game series tonight, with Nick Payero toeing the rubber for the Rainiers. It will be just his second career Triple-A start, as he made his Triple-A debut on Thursday with Tacoma against the Oklahoma City Baseball Club. In the outing, the right-hander allowed just one earned run on two hits and two walks, striking out a batter over 5.0 innings pitched. He limited Oklahoma City’s lineup to just a .118 batting average against him, looking for his first Triple-A win with a similar performance tonight. Opposite Payero will be Ryan Garcia taking the ball for Round Rock, set to start his eighth game of the year for the Express and first career start against Tacoma. Through his first seven starts, the righty is 2-3 with a 3.08 ERA, allowing 13 earned runs on 31 hits and 14 walks. He has struck out 45 batters over his 38.0 innings pitched, limiting opponents to a .223 batting average against him.

SLAUGHTER IN SEPTEMBER: Jake Slaughter has been red-hot in the month of September, hitting safely in 12 of his 14 games played this month. In those 14 games, he is hitting .375 (21-for-56) with six runs scored, seven doubles, two home runs and 17 runs batted in. He has also drawn seven walks compared to striking out 13 times, raising his on-base percentage to .444. Slaughter’s game last night was his first four-hit and five-RBI game of the season with Tacoma and just his second four-hit game overall this year. He has at least one extra-base hit in six of his last nine games and in each of his last two games entering play tonight, clubbing two doubles on Sunday against Oklahoma City and last night’s walk-off home run.

NEED A SWEEP: With Reno’s victory over Albuquerque last night, Tacoma’s magic elimination number went down to 1, trailing the Aces by 4.5 games with just five games left to play this season. In order to win the second half and make the PCL playoffs, Tacoma would need to sweep Round Rock in this six-game series, something they haven’t done all year, and need Albuquerque to win each of the next five games against Reno. Despite going 19-8 against the Aces this year, it appears they will make it into the playoffs over the Rainiers.

ON TO THE NEXT: Tacoma scored five runs in the sixth inning last night, coming back from down 8-6 to take an 11-8 lead. The Rainiers scored their five runs via six singles, not getting a single extra-base hit in the frame. Ryan Bliss led off the inning with a single and was followed by a single from Dominic Canzone. Tyler Locklear then singled to score Bliss and both runners advanced on a passed ball. Jason Vosler struck out swinging for the first out of the inning, but singles from Jake Slaughter and Rhylan Thomas brought Canzone and Locklear in. A double steal and a single from Nick Solak drove in two more runs before a double play ended the inning.

TOOK ALL NINE: The Rainiers used a season-high nine pitchers in last night’s 14-12 extra-inning victory, leaving them four fresh relievers for tonight’s game. Rob Kaminsky started the game and allowed eight earned runs on nine hits and a walk over his 3.1 innings, but the bullpen did enough to allow Tacoma’s offense a chance to come back. Eight relievers combined to give up just two earned runs (four total) on eight hits and three walks, striking out four over their 6.2 innings. Tacoma had previously needed eight pitchers to get through a game twice this year, most recently on Aug. 8 against Reno.

NOT TOO SHABBY: Ryan Bliss and Jake Slaughter each went 4-for-6 with two runs scored, combining for eight of Tacoma’s 19 hits as a team. Bliss, batting second in the order, clubbed two doubles and drove in a run. His two doubles gave him 23 on the season with Tacoma, one shy of tying Jason Vosler for the team-lead. Slaughter continued his hot hitting this month, hitting the walk-off home run and driving in five runs along the way. He is just the sixth player to record a five-RBI game this season for the Rainiers.

AVERAGE TWO: Tacoma swiped three bags in their 14-12 victory last night, giving them 172 on the season. This leads all of Triple-A by 38 and the entire Pacific Coast League by 82. It also puts them within nine of tying and 10 of setting the modern-era PCL record of 281 stolen bases set by the 1981 Albuquerque Dukes. If Tacoma averages two stolen bases over their next five games, they will set the record. Stealing two bases in a single game isn’t out of the realm of possibilities for this team, as they have stolen two or more bases in 69 (40 1st half, 29 2nd half) of their 145 games played this year, good for 48%. Ryan Bliss leads Triple-A with 47 swiped bags and Samad Taylor is second with 46, so look for those two to run if they reach base.

NOT HIS BEST: While all eight men behind him got at least one hit in last night’s crazy game, Samad Taylor struggled both at the plate and in the field. Taylor was Tacoma’s leadoff hitter and enters tonight’s game with the second-most hits on the Rainiers, with 125. Last night wasn’t his night, as he went 0-for-6 with a strikeout and created seven outs, as one of his at-bats led to a double play. In the field, the utility-man made three errors defensively, one throwing and two fielding, giving him 11 on the season. He has played 38 games at second, two games at third, 25 games at shortstop, 29 games in left field, 18 games in center field and 20 games in right field for the Rainiers this year. He happened to be at shortstop last night, where seven of his 11 errors have come, with the other four while playing second base. Taylor has been a rock all year for the Rainiers both offensively and defensively and will look to bounce back tonight.

AGAINST ROUND ROCK: Tacoma and Round Rock will play game two of their six-game series tonight and game eight of 12 overall between the two teams this season, with the Rainiers currently holding a 6-1 series lead. Tacoma took five-of-six from Round Rock at Dell Diamond back from June 11-16 and after last night’s victory, enter play tonight on a five-game winning streak against the Express. Not only does Tacoma hold the season series record over Round Rock, but they also have the all-time series lead over the Express by 19 games, at 60-41.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma needs to average two stolen bases per game to set the modern-era PCL record, a feat in which they have accomplished in 48% (69-of-145) of their games so far this season…three more wins this week would make Tacoma the winningest Rainiers team since the 2001 team that went 85-59; they won 80 games in 2005 and 2008, earning 81 victories in 2016, as this would be just the fifth 80-win team since becoming affiliates with Seattle in 1995…Michael Papierski tied his season-long five-game hitting streak with his 2-for-3 game last night; over his last five games dating back to Sept. 12, the catcher is hitting .389 (7-for-18) with two doubles and six runs batted in.