Matt Carson ended the speculation with an exclamation.
For six innings on Thursday, the Tacoma Rainiers’ offense battled back from several multiple-run deficits.
The Rainiers cut their deficit to two three times, a single run on one other occasion.
Then Carson strode to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh for the Sacramento River Cats. Carson quickly unloaded the bases with a grand slam against Andrew Baldwin as Sacramento pulled away for an 11-6 Pacific Coast League victory before a crowd of 4,946 fans at Cheney Stadium.
“We didn’t do a very good job of limiting the damage in a few innings,” Tacoma manager Daren Brown said. “We had trouble shutting them down tonight.”
Not that Tacoma went completely quietly.
Jeff Clement continued to hit the ball hard for the Rainiers. A night after he had four doubles against the River Cats, the Tacoma first baseman hit a two-out home run in his first at-bat Thursday.
That cut an early 3-0 Sacramento lead to two.
Clement later added a ringing, opposite-field double into the leftfield corner. In between, it took a great stop and throw from Sacramento second baseman Yung-Chi Chen and a catch at the base of the wall in right by Travis Buck to retire Clement.
However, though Bryan LaHair added a solo shot off the foul pole in right, and Michael Saunders added two doubles and two runs scored, it wasn’t nearly enough.
“You felt like we were coming,” Brown said. “If we just hold them. Then, of course, the grand slam comes and turns a 7-5 game into an 11-5 game.”
Even from the opening inning, though, the River Cats’ bats peppered the Tacoma defense with hit after hit.
Sacramento scored three times on three hits in the first. It added a single runs in the second and fifth, scored twice in the third, and got the big blast with one out from Carson in the seventh.
In all, the River Cats pounded out 16 hits – 12 of them singles. Sacramento also benefitted from two wild pitches and four walks.
The River Cats have won five of their last six games. Sacramento starter Chad Reineke moved to 5-1 in his last eight starts despite allowing five runs in six innings of work. Reineke had allowed just 16 runs in his last 41.1 innings before Thursday for a 3.48 ERA over that span.
Short hops
Jeff Clement’s four doubles Wednesday were reportedly the first time in Pacific Coast League history that a player has had four doubles in a game by the fourth inning. … Tacoma leadoff batter Jerry Owens went 0-for-5 on Thursday, ending his nine-game hitting streak. Clement and Saunders each extended their current streaks to seven games.
On tap
The Rainiers send Brandon Morrow (0-1, 9.64 ERA) to the hill in the opener of a four-game series against Las Vegas, tonight at 7, while the 51s will start David Purcey (4-3, 4.62).
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