Starting pitchers don’t get much more dissimilar than the pair who faced off at Cheney Stadium on Wednesday.
Going for the Omaha Storm Chasers was 36-year-old Jeff Suppan, a veteran of 16 major league seasons with two World Series appearances.
The Tacoma Rainiers countered with Forrest Snow, a 22-year-old little more than a year removed from the University of Washington and making his second Triple-A start.
For all the disparity in their résumés, the pair pitched evenly and settled nothing. Suppan allowed one run while pitching into the sixth, Snow allowed one run through seven.
Neither figured in the decision as Omaha (69-55) rallied for a 4-2 win before a crowd of 4,134.
The deciding blow was a three-run home run that Yamaico Navarro hit just inside the left field foul pole against Scott Patterson, who was one strike away from securing the save.
“It’s a tough loss when you’re down to your last strike to take home a win,” manager Daren Brown said. “(Patterson) left the pitch out over the plate a little bit: three-run homer. I thought Snow threw the ball well, I thought (Cesar) Jimenez threw the ball well, and Patterson came within a strike of closing it out; but it didn’t happen tonight.”
Snow is about as local a guy as there is in the Mariners organization.
He was born in Seattle, attended Lakeside High School and the University of Washington.
Snow was drafted by Seattle in 2007, but didn’t sign. The club selected him again in 2010, and he began his climb up the organizational ladder: Everett, Clinton and High Desert before being promoted to Tacoma on July 24.
Wednesday marked his first start at Cheney Stadium. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out nine.
“It’s his first full year,” Brown said. “We’ve only seen him three or four times since he’s come here. He came in to help. We’ve lost some guys, and he’s actually done a nice job for us. Today was a solid start for him. We had plenty of opportunities: 15 left on base. We just didn’t do much when we got guys in scoring position.”
The defeat also cost the Rainiers (63-62) a chance to gain ground on Reno, which dropped a 2-1 decision at Oklahoma City earlier in the evening. Tacoma remains 41/2 games behind the Aces in the Pacific Coast League’s Pacific North Division.
“I’m only worried about us,” Brown said. “I’ll worry about Reno in a couple of days from now. But right now we’ve just got to beat the team that’s on the other side and not worry about what’s going on somewhere else.”
ON TAP
The Rainiers and Storm Chasers continue their series at 7:05 tonight. Tacoma left-hander Chris Seddon (8-6, 6.43 ERA) is scheduled to pitch against Omaha right-hander Sean O’Sullivan (6-2, 2.30).
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808 don.ruiz@thenewstribune.com
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