Rainiers win: Tacoma walks off Opening Day in 11th, SS Ryan Bliss eyes breakout
An old-fashioned pitcher’s duel, anyone?
Scoreless in the 11th inning, Rainiers ghost-runner Samad Taylor took third base on Michael Papierski’s productive groundout, then dashed home on Leo Rivas’ ensuing walk-off fielder’s choice to win Friday night’s home opener at Cheney Stadium, 1-0.
Triple-A Tacoma could have walked off Opening Day an inning earlier – but Taylor grounded into a 10th-inning double play with runners on the corners. Threat eliminated.
Alas, it allowed him to start the 11th inning as Tacoma’s auto-runner at second base. And he wouldn’t disappoint twice.
Rainiers southpaw starter Jhonathan Diaz tossed a five-inning shutout, surrendering three hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He plunked three Oklahoma City hitters. Mixing a fastball in the high-80s with deceptive off-speed stuff, Diaz navigated traffic routinely and induced a flyout that ended the fifth inning with two Oklahoma City baserunners aboard.
“(Jhonathan) knows how to get through lineups in certain ballparks,” Triple-A Tacoma manager John Russell said. “He’s a guy that can move all around and change speeds very well. A guy that’s savvy about what he’s doing. He has the ability to have some really quick innings, and then has the ability to get out of some trouble.”
Indeed he did. Diaz cruised through a 1-2-3 first inning, then stranded a pair of Oklahoma runners in the second and third frames before evading his final wave of trouble in the fifth.
Right fielder Cade Marlowe’s on-the-money, game-saving throw in the 10th inning kept Friday’s home opener scoreless. He snagged a shallow flyout before firing home a missile that nabbed OKC auto-runner Jonathan Arauz and denied the go-ahead run.
“We’re all here for the same goal, to win,” shortstop Ryan Bliss said. “And hopefully make it up to Seattle.”
TACOMA’S BLISS
Last July 31, Diamondbacks prospect Ryan Bliss couldn’t enjoy an off-day lunch without a phone call from Arizona’s front office, alerting him of the news: Bliss, along with OF Dominic Canzone and INF Josh Rojas, were traded to Seattle for closer Paul Sewald.
First, shock. Then, a brief pause.
“I don’t think a lot of people know this… I get a little down time of, like, five minutes, where you’ve got to wait to get the call from the next organization,” Bliss told The News Tribune. “I just kind of sat there (thinking), what’s next?”
Dealt in the closing days before the 2023 trade deadline, what stuck with Bliss most throughout a whirlwind of a week: the Seattle Mariners wanted him. They still consider Bliss, a second baseman/shortstop, a valuable and coveted piece of the major league club’s future.
It’s easy to see why.
With Triple-A Reno at the time of the trade, Bliss smoothly transitioned to the Rainiers and picked up right where he left off, slashing .251/.356/.466 with 10 homers and 35 RBI in 47 Tacoma games.
The reward? An invite to spring training last month, where Bliss put the organization and its fans on call-up watch. The 24-year-old just took Peoria, Arizona by storm, going 12-for-36 (.333) with nine RBI and five stolen bases in 19 spring games.
“I just came out here and wanted to be myself,” Bliss said. “I wanted to help this new team win, and that’s what kept me going.”
Seattle’s 12th-ranked prospect per MLB.com, Bliss flashes quick hands at the plate and uses a stronger lower half to generate bat speed and pop. He’s not the Aaron Judge or Nelson Cruz-type power slugger but makes up for it with consistent contact, finding enough barrels to lift 23 home runs across 128 minor league games in 2023.
“A line-drive-hitting machine,” Russell dubbed him.
He’s comfortable on either side of second base, and started at shortstop for the Rainiers on Friday night.
And he may be on the verge of a Tacoma breakout.
“I’m not trying to be a power hitter,” Bliss said. “If anything, I’m trying to be boring. Just trying to hit a line drive the other way, get a single, get on base, and run.”
Bliss soaked up spring training like a sponge, learning the ins and outs of a major league clubhouse and the daily approach of professionals. Mariners shortstop and team captain J.P. Crawford soon became the mentor he leaned on.
“Seeing the way J.P. goes about his business, seeing how Julio (Rodriguez) prepares for a game,” Bliss said. “I can keep going on about the guys in that locker room… Hopefully, I can be teammates with them.
“Most times, it was just observing (J.P.). Just seeing how he does it. What does he do? How does he win a Gold Glove? How (is) he the captain of this team? That’s one thing I watched, and was really observant about.”
The shortstops are wired similarly: winning first, stats second.
“I tell everyone, I want to pop champagne at the end of the year,” Bliss said. “I don’t care where it is. I just want to win wherever I am.”
SPEED EVERYWHERE
What do you call the front third of Tacoma’s lineup, consisting of Jonatan Clase, Ryan Bliss, and Cade Marlowe?
A catcher’s nightmare.
It’s a new season for Triple-A Tacoma – and all but a select few are fresh faces – but Rainiers manager John Russell expects a roster loaded with speedsters to shine throughout an aggressive 2024 campaign on the basepaths.
It begins with Clase, 21, who made his Triple-A debut Friday night and is arguably the fastest player in Seattle’s entire organization. Bliss regularly threatens to take off. And Marlowe was one of MLB’s faster runners in 2023, ranking in the 88th percentile (sprint speed) across 34 major league games, per Baseball Savant.
“A little bit more speed than we had last year,” Russell said Friday, before correcting himself. “Quite a bit more speed than last year, actually.”
Rainiers six-hitter and left fielder Samad Taylor, acquired from Kansas City in a January deal, may be even faster than the speedy Marlowe, per Baseball Savant’s major-league standard. He reached the 91st percentile (sprint speed) after debuting for the Royals last June 17, 2023.
“You know when the real Opening Day was? February,” Taylor said.
Tacoma swiped three bases Friday night (Bliss, Marlowe, Rivas).
On paper, Russell and the Rainiers appear poised to build upon their 77-73 finish in 2023, thanks to a roster oozing with major league experience. Infielders Brian Anderson, Michael Chavis, and Nick Solak all have appeared with multiple MLB clubs; Diaz, Triple-A Tacoma’s starter Friday night, debuted for the Los Angeles Angels in 2021.
Russell, meanwhile, enters his second season as Triple-A Tacoma manager, an MLB veteran who appeared in parts of 10 major league seasons (between 1982-94) and managed the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2008-10.
He’s been a player or manager in seven organizations throughout Russell’s baseball career — what stands out in Seattle?
“The (organization’s) very open,” Russell said. “I think they give the players guidance with player plans, and letting us continue to develop that plan with them. Talking to a lot of players that come here, I think that’s the biggest thing, is that they feel like we care. But also, we’ve given them the things we feel and they feel will (make) them better. The players have an understanding of what they need to do to get better. And as a staff, that’s where you come in to help them achieve that goal.
“(We) work hard toward our goal of winning games, but also making sure these guys are ready to help Seattle if needed.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2024 at 11:02 PM.
