Overpowering?
Brandon Morrow wasn’t on Friday.
What he was, however, was better the second time around.
In his first Cheney Stadium start since Aug. 31, 2008, and his second Rainiers start of the season, Morrow topped out at 96 miles an hour on his fastball. More importantly, though, he kept the Las Vegas 51s mostly at bay over 42/3 innings and 98 pitches.
But Morrow also was long gone by the time the game was decided.
The Rainiers scored five times in the bottom of the seventh against David Purcey to erase a one-run deficit and went on to an 8-4 victory in the series opener.
All five runs were unearned, thanks to an error by Las Vegas third baseman Kevin Howard.
With the bases loaded and one out, Matt Tuiasosopo dribbled a ball down the line that Howard fielded. As he came up to throw to the plate, he fumbled the ball and Jamie Burke scored to tie it at 3.
Jeff Clement then was out on an infield fly that should have ended the inning. Instead, it was the second out. Purcey then hit designated hitter Mike Carp to give the Rainiers a 4-3 lead, and Prentice Redman followed with a bases-clearing double.
Five days ago, Morrow also lasted 42/3 innings against the 51s in Las Vegas – his first Triple-A start since being demoted from Seattle after 22 appearances, mostly in relief, which produced an 0-4 record with a 5.28 ERA.
Morrow allowed five earned runs in Las Vegas but he scattered five hits on Friday and gave up just two runs, one earned. In doing so, he lowered his Triple-A ERA from 9.64 to 5.79.
He almost worked his way out of no-out situation in the fifth, but allowed a single unearned run before being relieved with two outs in the inning.
After a throwing error by Clement loaded the bases, Morrow came back to strike out J.P. Arencibia. He then got Howard to hit a bouncer to second that nearly turned into an inning-ending double play, but the Rainiers only got the second out of the inning.
Howie Clark scored on a fielder’s choice to tie the game at 2. After Brian Dopirak walked to again load the bases, Morrow was done.
Denny Stark relieved and got Aaron Mathews to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning, giving Morrow a no-decision.
Short hops
Rainiers third baseman Tuiasosopo entered Friday’s game with a .214 batting average, but with his first-inning walk he has reached base in every game since returning from the disabled list eight games ago. … Michael Saunders extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single in the eighth for the Rainiers. …
Brad Nelson’s pinch-hit home run in the eighth ran his streak of consecutive games reaching base to nine. …
Three short years after he helped lead Jackson of Everett to a state title over Auburn, Las Vegas outfielder Travis Snider was playing ball in Tacoma on Friday. Snider, who made the Toronto Blue Jays roster out of spring training, is working his way back from an injury and singled in his first at-bat against Morrow.
On tap
Left-hander Jason Vargas (1-2, 2.93 ERA) goes to the hill for Tacoma at 7 p.m. today against Las Vegas left-hander Davis Romero (1-2, 5.74) in the second of the four-game set with the 51s.
