SACRAMENTO – The Tacoma Rainiers’’ hitting problems were not solved on Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento, but nobody was complaining.
The Rainiers enjoyed a great pitching performance from Forrest Snow and the bullpen, and they made the most of their few scoring opportunities to beat the Sacramento River Cats, 2-1, in 10 innings.
The victory ended a three-game losing streak, and improved the Rainiers’ record to 6-8. Still, the Rainiers have been held to two runs or fewer in five of the past six games.
“Obviously the pitching was really good today,” said Tacoma manager Daren Brown. “We made the most of our opportunities – we didn’t have many of them.”
Snow appeared fully recovered from the wildness that surprisingly affected him in his first two starts. The Seattle native worked six innings and allowed one run on three hits, walking two.
Snow struck out a Rainiers season-high eight batters – including the side on just 13 pitches in the fourth inning. He retired 10 of the last 12 batters he faced.
“About the third or fourth inning Snow got into a little bit of a groove,” said Brown. “He was really good today and that’s something to build off of.”
Snow did not get the decision because the Rainiers did not score against Sacramento starter Brad Peacock until the seventh inning.
Singles by Chih-Hsien Chiang and Johan Limonta, followed by a Limonta steal, put runners at second and third with two outs.
On a 1-2 pitch to Brandon Bantz, Peacock bounced one in the dirt and Chiang raced home with the tying run even though the ball rolled just 20 feet away from Sacramento catcher Petey Paramore.
Luis Rodriguez led off the 10th inning with a double to right-center off Sacramento reliever Jim Miller. Bantz laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Rodriguez to third, and Trayvon Robinson lifted a sacrifice fly to right-center to score Rodriguez with the winner. Robinson was behind in the count 0-2 when he connected for the sac fly.
“That last at-bat was a huge test for me to stay calm and just try to put the ball in play, and get something done,” said Robinson. “It was a little slurve or something. Luckily I got one up, and all I did was drop the head on it and luckily I got it in the air.”
Sean Henn (1-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Snow to earn the win, and Josh Kinney delivered a scoreless bottom of the 10th to nail down the save.
SHORT HOPS
Catcher Adam Moore tore the medial meniscus in his right knee on Monday in Fresno, the Mariners announced. Moore will have surgery today, and no timetable for his return will be known until after the surgery. … Pitcher Matt Fox will not make his scheduled start on Friday because of shoulder soreness. Instead, Jarrett Grube will take his spot in the rotation. … Carlos Triunfel went 0-for-5, ending his eight-game hitting streak.
ON TAP
It’s back to night baseball as the two teams meet at 7:05 p.m. today. Tacoma starter Anthony Vasquez (2-0, 1.38 ERA) will attempt to extend his streak of nine straight quality starts in the PCL. He’ll be opposed by Sacramento’s Fabio Castro (1-0, 3.00), who pitched for Tacoma last year.
Mike Curto is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers.
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