Rainiers keep the bats hot in another big win
Perhaps Friday night was less of a flash in the pan and more of a corner turned for Tacoma. The Rainiers kept their bats going in a big way Saturday, dropping three crooked numbers to take their series opener against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox 9-3.
“That was a good offense night,” Rainiers manager Pat Listach said after the game. “This is what this lineup is capable of doing.”
Ben Gamel hit safely in each of his first four at-bats, finishing 4-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Right behind him, Gordon Beckham went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
“They’re two professional hitters,” Listach said. “They’ve solidified our lineup, and it’s lengthened out. It’s not an easy lineup to pitch to.”
Two other Tacoma hitters had multi-hit games. The Rainiers put together 15 hits, reaching double digits in the hit column for the second straight night.
Starter Casey Lawrence looked dominant out of the gate, throwing three perfect innings while the offense gave him a lead to work with. He finished with six strikeouts in five innings pitched, allowing one run and needing 70 pitches to do so.
Tacoma took the lead in the second on a grounder off the bat of Zach Vincej, and three straight base hits after him — including Gamel’s second double — made it 3-0.
The Rainiers added two more in the bottom of the fourth, before breaking it open with a four-spot in the fifth.
Nick Rumbelow, Marc Rzepczynski, Justin Grimm, and Ryan Cook combined to see the game through the final four innings. The bullpen allowed a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, but never let the game come even close to being in doubt.
The Rainiers and Sky Sox will continue their series at 1:35 p.m. tomorrow. Erasmo Ramirez will start, and is scheduled to go five innings. Christian Bergman — whose spot will be up in the Tacoma rotation — will be first out of the bullpen to go in long relief.
Higgins’ day of flights
In the purest, most scientific sense of the word, Tyler Higgins’ displacement over the past two days has been absolutely zero. At 5 p.m. Thursday, he was in the home clubhouse at Cheney Stadium, and at 5 p.m. Saturday, he was right back in the same place.
But in the 48 hours in between, well, a lot happened.
Following Tacoma’s 6-3 loss to Oklahoma City, Higgins, one of the Rainiers’ best relievers this season, got the surprising news that he had been sent down to Double-A Arkansas. Higgins was due to meet up with the Travelers in Tulsa, packed up all of his belongings, and left SeaTac early Friday afternoon.
He had to stop in Minneapolis, but when he landed, he got another call from upper management.
“I was in a rush, because my flight had been delayed a little bit, so I was running to the other gate, and they were like, ‘Don’t get on that flight,’” Higgins said before Tacoma’s game Saturday night.
With Juan Nicasio going to the disabled list, the Mariners recalled Chasen Bradford from Tacoma, reopening a spot for Higgins. So instead of getting on his flight to Tulsa, the organization sent Higgins another set of tickets, and he got on the first flight back to Seattle.
“It’s funny now,” Higgins said. “It wasn’t so comical then. But I’m back here, so I’m happy. Everything is back to the way I thought it was going to be.”
And in the end, Higgins is on three days’ rest, and good to go Friday. Well, almost.
“My stuff isn’t here,” Higgins said. “We’re trying to get it here as soon as we can. I’ve been trying to call them all day and figure out where it is.”
Higgins isn’t the only pitcher whose had to deal with missing gear. When Darin Gillies was sent down to Travelers, his gear was lost en route Arkansas, and he had to make his first appearance with a random collection of teammates’ uniforms and equipment. But Higgins isn’t quite in the same situation.
“I don’t have my contacts or my glasses,” Higgins said. “Playing catch today was pretty rough.”
Streaking Seth
Seth Mejias-Brean has built up a 13-game hitting streak over the past two weeks, the longest of the season for Tacoma. In that span, he’s hitting .447, and has raised his batting average by 37 points. But it hasn’t been a major change in his swing that has led to his success.
“It’s relaxing a little bit more, and being more direct toward the pitcher, more thinking up the middle than trying to pull it,” Mejias-Brean said. “I think sometimes when I get into slumps, I’m trying to be a bit earlier and trying to use my body a bit more, when that kind of puts me into that slump.”
After starting his streak on contact and directional hitting, Mejias-Brean started to hit for power in Tacoma’s 13-1 blowout of Oklahoma City on Friday, hitting his first home run since June 18.
“It’s good to see his power stroke come back,” manager Pat Listach said.
Part of Mejias-Brean’s success has been due to changes in the lineup around him. With power hitters like Daniel Vogelbach, Ben Gamel, and David Freitas back in Tacoma, he’s found himself a bit lower in the lineup and in easier situations.
“The pressure’s lifted off of you a little more,” Mejias-Brean said. “They’re the big bats in the lineup, and you’re just there to play.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2018 at 6:29 PM.