Everything comes together as Tacoma tops Reno
Friday was the pitchers’. Saturday was the bats. On Sunday, the Tacoma Rainiers put it all together, beating the Reno Aces 7-2 at Cheney Stadium.
After problems cashing in on opportunities, the Rainiers went 4 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left just three men on base. Coming off of the location problems Saturday, four Tacoma pitchers combined to allow just three walks. A day after a rough bullpen outing, three relievers threw four shutout innings, including working out of a pair of bases-loaded, no-out jams.
Tacoma got all the offense it needed in the fourth inning, loading the bases on a single, a walk, and a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line. That brought up Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who roped a single to score two. After a pair of outs, Ian Miller lined a double into the corner in right field for two more, giving Tacoma all the offense it would need for the day.
“The last couple days we’ve been struggling to come up clutch with those kinds of hits with runners in scoring position,” shortstop Zach Vincej said. “Today we were just trying to get past that a little bit and know that we can go up there and clutch up when we need.”
Vincej himself got in on the scoring in the bottom of the sixth with his sixth home run of the year, a towering shot over the wall in left-center to make it 7-2.
“That was huge,” manager Pat Listach. “That’s about as far as he can hit a ball.”
Williams Perez earned his first win in Tacoma, scattering seven hits and two runs across five innings.
“He set the tone for us to come in and get the job done,” reliever Shawn Armstrong said.
Perez started the sixth inning, but let three runners on, and was pulled in favor of Mike Morin, who got three straight outs (though a run did score on a sacrifice fly) to end the threat.
An inning later, Daniel Schlereth made his first appearance out of the Tacoma bullpen since being called up from Double-A Arkansas on Saturday, and needed just three pitches to roll an inning-ending double play in the top of the seventh.
Schlereth came back out for the eighth, but didn’t look nearly as sharp, loading the bases on a single and two walks. This time, it was Armstrong’s turn to lead the escape, and the Tacoma All-Star promptly struck out three straight to retire the side before coming back with a scoreless ninth.
All told, the Tacoma bullpen inherited seven runners on the day; just one scored.
“I’ve been talking about it for a while, but I like the way (the bullpen) is set up,” Listach said.
The Rainiers will try to take the five-game series against the Aces on Monday night, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m. Casey Lawrence will pitch for Tacoma against Neftali Feliz for the Reno.