SALT LAKE CITY – After a 14-run, 18-hit, six-homer attack on Wednesday afternoon in Salt Lake City, it seems the Tacoma Rainiers’ team-wide hitting slump is over.
Luis Rodriguez and Mike Wilson each homered twice in the Rainiers’ 14-10 victory at Spring Mobile Ballpark, spurring the Rainiers to their second successive victory. Tacoma won the series, two games to one.
“That was fun,” Wilson said. “Especially watching Luis hit his bombs farther than mine.”
Tacoma scored 21 runs on 29 hits in the two wins after a stretch of nine games in which the Rainiers batted .147 and didn’t reach double digits in the hits column in any game. Tacoma had scored nine runs total in the previous six games.
“We had some guys take better at-bats, and when they got good pitches to hit, they didn’t miss them,” manager Daren Brown said.
Rodriguez hit the first homer in the first inning, a towering solo blast to right field off Salt Lake starter Francisco Rodriguez.
Vinnie Catricala and Wilson homered on consecutive pitches in the second inning, both to left field.
Luis Jimenez had the longest homer, driving a three-run behemoth off the scoreboard in right-center to give Tacoma a 6-1 lead in the second. Jimenez’s second homer in as many days, his 11th of the year, knocked Rodriguez out of the game.
Wilson lined his second one to left in the fifth inning off left-hander Matt Meyer. Then Rodriguez struck for his second bomb, a deep fly inside the right field foul pole for a three-run homer, giving Tacoma a 12-6 lead.
It was the first career two-homer game for Rodriguez, 31, in his 1,492nd game.
Wilson went 4-for-5, adding two singles to his homers in his second of back-to-back games after spending time on the bench while Franklin Gutierrez was rehabilitating.
“It’s all about building up confidence,” Wilson said. “I’ve been working hard every day in the cage. My swing has been fine. It’s about picking out my pitches. I was pretty selective today.”
The six home runs set a Tacoma season high. Tacoma last hit six homers on July 6, 2011, at Colorado Springs.
Tacoma starter Jandy Sena allowed two runs in 3 innings in his Triple-A debut. He left after injuring his right knee covering first base in the fourth inning.
ON TAP
The Rainiers open a four-game series in Sacramento at 7:05 p.m. today. Andrew Carraway (2-2, 3.41 ERA) will start against Sacramento’s Tyson Ross (2-1, 2.45).
Mike Curto is the radio broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers.