Rainiers drop slugfest to Aces
The wind was blowing out Saturday night at Cheney Stadium. The balls were flying and falling. The pitchers were missing spots. The pickoffs and bullpen changes were plentiful.
Ross Detwiler threw the first pitch of the game to Ildemaro Vargas at 7:07 p.m. Two pitches later, Vargas walked back to the dugout with a quick, three-pitch strikeout.
Then AJ Pollock sent the second pitch he saw over the fence for a home run, and the slugfest began.
Three hours and 49 minutes later later, there had been 11 extra-base hits, 19 walks, five lead changes, five crooked numbers, and 24 runners left on base, and the Reno Aces capped off a 14-8 win over the Tacoma Rainiers.
“This is always a pitchers’ ballpark, and today it turned into a hitters’ ballpark with that wind blowing straight out like it was,” manager Pat Listach said. “That’s very uncommon for this time of year.”
The 14 runs allowed is a season high for Tacoma. Reno’s back-to-back of Pollock and Steven Souza Jr. — both on rehab stints from the big leagues — combined to go 5 for 5 with five runs scored, five RBIs, a home run, two triples, a double, and three walks.
“You make mistakes to those guys with guys one base and bad things will happen to you,” Listach said. “That’s what happened.”
Eleven walks given up fell one short of the Rainiers’ season high and kept the Aces on the bases all day long. Reno put up five runs in the top of the fourth, three in the fifth, and four in the eighth to put the game away for good.
“I feel like if we pitch in the zone better, we don’t face as many hitters and they probably don’t hit as many home runs,” Listach said.
Five different Tacoma batters notched multi-hit days, led by Andrew Aplin, who went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a walk. Daniel Vogelbach went 1 for 2 with his 13th home run of the season, but added four walks.
Detwiler lasted ust 3 ⅓ innings, allowing five runs on five hits and walking six. Ashton Goudeau, Darin Gillies, and Ryan Garton pitched the final 5 ⅔, and each gave up at least three hits and one run.
The middle game of the five-game series between Tacoma and Reno will start at 1:35 p.m. Williams Perez is scheduled to make his second start for the Rainiers.
Higgins' unexpected journey
As the 2017 season came to an end, Tyler Higgins officially arrived at the crossroads.
After six years in the Miami Marlins organization — the last four of which with Double-A Jacksonville — Higgins learned that his time in Florida was coming to an abrupt end.
“Everybody’s leaving for Spring Training, and I was sitting there like ‘What am I going to do?’” Higgins said at Cheney Stadium before Saturday’s game. “It grinds on your head.
“I didn’t really have anywhere else to go, and I wasn't ready to be done playing yet.”
So Higgins left affiliated baseball entirely and went north, landing with the New Britain Bees of the Atlantic League, just south of Hartford. Outside of any organization, Higgins was more free to test out new adjustments, including changing his four-seam fastball grip to increase his spin rate.
The changes worked. Higgins allowed just three runs and struck out 18 batters in 14 ⅓ innings across 14 games in April and May. Come June 2, Higgins got a call from the Mariners to come to Tacoma, where David Berg — Higgins’ manager in Jacksonville — was the hitting coach.
And Higgins didn’t wait around.
“I was here 20 hours later from Connecticut.” Higgins said. “I drove to Michigan, then flew out of Michigan and got here the next day.”
Since coming to to the Rainiers, Higgins has gotten the chance to work with pitching coach Lance Painter and continue to use the analytics and technology at the Rainiers’ disposal.
“Everything is put out there for you to use and see where you’re bad, where you’re good, where you can get better, what you can continue to do, what you shouldn’t be doing,” Higgins said. “They’re very open about that, and that really helps a lot.”
Higgins has formed an identity for himself pounding the strike zone with his newly-improved fastball, and mixing in his offspeed. In 10 innings so far, Higgins has struck out 13 batters and has only allowed six hits and three walks for a WHIP squarely at 0.90.
“His stuff is very, very good, he’s consistent, and he’s very aggressive,” Painter said. “It’s been fun to watch.”
There’s only one problem Higgins has in Tacoma: after growing up in Michigan and beginning his career in Florida, he’s still getting used to the Pacific time zone. But other than that, his unusual road has led him to a new peak in the journey.
“This is the best I’ve felt in as long as I can remember,” Higgins said. “I’m feeling good every day, I’m happy to be here.”