Detwiler shines as Rainiers open homestand with win

Ross Detwiler turned in his third consecutive quality start — and best performance of the year — as the Tacoma Rainiers opened their final homestand of the first half with a win, beating the Las Vegas 51s 6-1 Monday at Cheney Stadium.

“It’s nice to have a veteran guy who’s got a lot of big-league time and really knows how to pitch come out and execute his pitches,” Tacoma manager Pat Listach said after the game.

Detwiler tied his own career high and a season high for Tacoma with nine strikeouts, the most he’s had in one game at any level since July 25, 2016. He went 7 ⅓ innings on 102 pitches, his highest pitch count since August of 2016, allowing one run on two hits and a walk.

“He’s older now, he knows how to pitch a little bit better,” Listach said. “His stuff is not quite the same as when he was throwing 94-96. He’s probably lost four or five miles per hour, but he’s still a quality veteran lefty who knows how to pitch.”

On a day where the wind was whipping out of Cheney Stadium for much of the game, Detwiler mixed up his speeds and kept the ball down in the zone, only inducing four flyouts all game and rolling eight grounders.

“Sometimes (the wind) is good for you,” Detwiler said. “Sometimes you have to focus a lot more and make sure you’re keeping the ball down.”

Daniel Vogelbach got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with the first Tacoma home run of the day, muscling a ball the other way out to left-center field to spot the Rainiers an early 2-0 lead.

“That was pretty impressive,” Listach said.

Garrett Kennedy did Vogelbach one better in the bottom of the fourth, bringing three runs in on his second home run of the season, a bomb to right. Tacoma added its final run of the day on a bases-loaded walk to Cameron Perkins in the bottom of the seventh.

Perkins back from DL

Before a broken right index finger sidelined him for three weeks, Cameron Perkins was one of the Tacoma Rainiers’ hottest hitters, leading the team in doubles and riding a four-game hitting streak.

One misplayed grounder later, Perkins found himself on the disabled list. After 21 days out and a quick rehab assignment with short Single-A Everett, Perkins is back with the Rainiers. He started as the designated hitter when they opened a four-game series with the Las Vegas 51s on Monday at Cheney Stadium.

“I feel good. I’d been getting cabin fever sitting around watching baseball,” Perkins said before Monday’s game. “I’m glad to be playing again.”

Going down to Everett gave Perkins, a six-year veteran with 42 games of MLB experience with the Phillies, a chance to play mentor for the AquaSox on their first road trip of the season.

“It was fun,” Perkins said. “You get to help them out a little bit, because a lot of those guys are college guys that have played three professional games in their careers because they had just gotten there. I was just showing them the ropes and having fun; everyone had a blast.”

Perkins went 4 for 16 with three RBIs in four games games with the AquaSox.

“You forget what it’s like to play short-season ball,” Perkins said. “I did it in 2012, but it seems so much longer. It was nice, it was fun, everyone had a good time, everyone plays hard, and they have a good team down there.”

Plenty of moves

Perkins wasn’t the only addition to the roster to begin Tacoma’s nine-game homestand.

Danny Muno and Rob Whalen were both sent to the disabled list. Adam Law, who had joined the Rainiers for the road trip in Salt Lake, was sent back to Double-A Arkansas after going 2 for 4 with a pair of runs scored in two appearances. Logan Taylor came in to replace him, joining the Rainiers for his second stint in Tacoma this season; his first lasted 10 games.

Lastly, Ryan Cook, who was optioned from Seattle on Friday, joined up with the team.

This story was originally published June 25, 2018 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Detwiler shines as Rainiers open homestand with win."