Portland starts fireworks by snapping Cheney skid
GRANT CLARK; For The News Tribune
Portland hadn’t won at Cheney Stadium in more than a year.
But a barrage of two-out doubles, a timely error and a three-run ninth inning helped change the Beavers’ fortunes Friday night when Portland snapped its seven-game losing streak in Tacoma with an 8-4 victory over the Rainiers in Pacific Coast League play before a season-high crowd of 8,522 on fireworks night.
“We had a couple innings early where we just couldn’t shut them down,” Tacoma manager Daren Brown said. “The error (in the second) cost us two runs and then things got away from us a bit in the ninth.”
Holding a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth, Portland (39-42) scored three runs, highlighted by a two-run triple from Matt Antonelli, to provide some cushion.
Tacoma got a leadoff walk from Brad Nelson in the bottom of the ninth, but three pop outs closed out the game.
“We got a couple solo home runs, but went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position,” Brown said. “We connect on a couple of those and it would have gone a long way in helping us win.”
The Beavers hadn’t won in Tacoma since an 8-5 victory on June 23, 2008.
Andy Baldwin (5-6) got the loss, despite pitching a season-high eight innings. He gave up three earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts.
Brodie Downs came on in relief and surrendered three runs on three hits.
Brian Lawrence (2-1) won after holding Tacoma to four runs on seven hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Bryan LaHair and Brad Nelson each had home runs in the bottom of the second for Tacoma (38-43) to tie the game at 2.
Both batters have been hot of late for the Rainiers. LaHair, who was recently named to the PCL All-Star team, has had at least one hit in his past five games, batting .368 (7-for-19) with three home runs during the stretch. Nelson has been equally impressive, hitting .366 (15-for-41) with three home runs over the past 11 games.
Nelson, who finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, added a double in the sixth, driving in Adam Moore to cut Tacoma’s deficit to 5-4.
While the Rainiers scored their runs with the long ball, the Beavers failed to homer for the fifth consecutive game, marking their longest drought of the season.
Four doubles and Antonelli’s triple, however, provided more than enough punch on offense.
Portland struck for a pair of runs in the top of second, taking advantage of shortstop Erick Monzon’s error before getting back-to-back RBI doubles from Jose Lobaton and Sean Kazmar.
Both runs came with two outs – a scenario which duplicated itself in the third when Vince Sinisi’s two-out double off the left-field wall knocked in Mike Baxter and Chad Huffman, pushing the Beavers’ lead to 4-2.
Short hops
The Rainiers auctioned off players’ jerseys during the game and raised $3,700 for the South Sound Chapter at Muscular Dystrophy Association. LaHair’s jersey fetched the highest price at $325 with
Jeff Clement’s second at $230.
On tap
The Rainiers begin a four-game series at Salt Lake at 6:05 p.m. today.
Chris Seddon (4-5, 4.67 ERA) is scheduled to start for Tacoma, which has a 3-5 record against the Bees. The Rainiers return home Wednesday to close out the first half of the season with a five-game series against Portland.
