Beavan lights out for Tacoma
DOUG PACEY
If Blake Beavan keeps this up, it won’t be long until the 23-year-old right-hander returns to Seattle’s starting rotation.
Beavan threw seven shutout innings Thursday at Cheney Stadium, leading Triple-A Tacoma to a 5-1 win over Colorado Springs.
“My fastball command was a big key, throwing my sinker a lot more than I usually do,” said Beavan, who improved to 4-0 for Tacoma. “Pitching inside a lot more than I have been, especially when I was up in the big leagues.”
Beavan, who went 3-6 with a 5.92 ERA in 12 starts for the Mariners before being demoted in mid-June, allowed two hits, two walks and struck out three on 96 pitches.
Beavan’s teammates helped out defensively, turning a double play in each of the first four innings against the Sky Sox (45-45).
“Any time you get double plays like that it’s a momentum thing,” Beavan said. “It’s crushing to the offense when they roll into double plays like that.”
Rainiers manager Daren Brown was pleased with Beavan’s outing, pointing out how Beavan stayed ahead of hitters and pitched down in the strike zone. But he saw room for improvement, too.
“He had a couple really good back-to-back starts where he was pitching into the eighth inning,” Brown said. “Tonight he had a shutout through seven but was at 96 pitches. The chances of him finishing that game are not pretty good.”
Offensively, a few Rainiers came up big for Tacoma (39-51).
Carlos Triunfel slipped a solo home run over the left field fence in the fourth inning, giving Tacoma a 2-0 lead. Triunfel’s eight home runs tie a single-season career high for the 22-year-old – he hit eight in 2008 with Single-A High Desert.
Triunfel doubled in his first at-bat and scored on All-Star Guillermo Quiroz’s two-out double in the second.
Shorstop Nick Franklin led off the sixth with a double – his first extra-base hit in five games – and later scored on an RBI fielder’s choice hit by Vinnie Catricala. He added an RBI single in the seventh that scored Trayvon Robinson, who reached on a double.
SHORT HOPS
Tacoma activated relief pitcher Jeff Marquez from the disabled list and designated for assignment pitcher Jarrett Grube. The move leaves the Rainiers with 24 active players, but Seattle signed reliever David Pauley to a minor league contract on Thursday and he is expected to join the Rainiers today.
ON TAP
Rainiers left-hander Danny Hultzen (1-1, 5.25 ERA) will try for his second straight win when he faces Colorado Springs right-hander Alex White (1-4, 4.01) at 7:05 tonight at Cheney Stadium.
253-597-8271 doug.pacey@thenewstribune.com
