Rainiers can’t cash in on golden opportunity in the ninth, lose in the 10th

The Rainiers had a rally in them Tuesday night. Unfortunately, they needed two, and the Reno Aces snuck out of Cheney Stadium with a 3-2 extra-inning win for a crazy ending to a crazy day.

Yasmany Tomas singled off of Shawn Armstrong with two outs in the top of the 10th inning, scoring the inherited runner to give the Aces their final lead.

But it shouldn’t have gotten to extras in the first place. Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Tacoma had the bases loaded with nobody out, but Daniel Vogelbach grounded into a double play, and Gordon Beckham popped out to waste the threat.

“We’ve got to get the job done and we didn’t get it job,” Rainiers manager Pat Listach said. “We never should have in the 10th.”

Tomas broke the scoreless deadlock in the top of the eighth with a solo home run just inside the foul pole in the left field off of Tyler Higgins, but Tacoma came right back in the bottom of the frame. David Freitas rolled a seeing-eye, broken-bat single through the infield to tie the game, and Cameron Perkins gave Tacoma the lead with an RBI single, capping a two-out rally.

The lead wouldn’t last; Kristopher Negron welcomed Ryan Cook to the game in the top of the ninth with an opposite-field home run, tying it back up at 2-2.

With Ross Detwiler sent up to Seattle just three hours before he was due to start in Tacoma, the Rainiers ended up with a short-notice bullpen day. Mike Morin started for the third time this season and the fifth time in his career, facing 11 batters and lasting 2 ⅔ innings. His 46 pitches thrown were the most he’s thrown in an appearance in at least six years.

“He had only had one day off,” Listach said. “He had 50 pitches, and that’s a lot to ask a guy who’s never gone 50 pitches before.”

Marc Rzepczynski went the next two outs for Tacoma, followed by Ryan Garton, who struck out three in 1 ⅔ innings of work and threw 40 pitches.

Higgins was the next out of the bullpen for the Rainiers. He went three innings — a game-high for Tacoma and a season-high for himself — and only allowed two hits, but one left the yard, putting Tacoma in its first hole of the night.

Cook got the ninth; Armstrong pitched the 10th.

“The guys stepped up today, and did the job,” Listach said. “We pitched well enough to win.”

The hump game of the three-day series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Wednesday. Christian Bergman will start for Tacoma. With three relievers almost certainly off the board after long outings tonight and another three who also threw over 15 pitches, the Rainiers will want him to eat innings and keep the load on the bullpen light.

Call-ups, delays, and smoke

There’s a word that bounced around the Tacoma Rainiers’ locker room a fair bit Tuesday afternoon. It’s not a word acceptable in polite society — much less in journalism — but it does describe how a minor-league baseball game can be like a poorly run circus.

Normally for a 7:05 p.m. game, Rainiers pitchers show up to stretch around four hours before. The position players come in a bit later, with batting practice starting around 4. After about 45 minutes or so, the Rainiers leave the field, and the visiting team gets its swings in.

Tuesday afternoon, things went, well, differently.

The pitchers showed up as normal. But then, a bit before 4, Ross Detwiler — Tacoma’s scheduled starting pitcher — was out in the Cheney Stadium parking lot, phone in one hand to his ear and bag in the other, with marching orders to make the trip north to Safeco.

“I had him as Washington as a player when I was coaching over there, and I saw him in Texas as well, so Ross and I go way back,” Rainiers manager Pat Listach said before the game. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”

Thus, with less than three hours to go to first pitch, Listach found himself without a starting pitcher. There wasn’t enough time to rush an emergency call-up south from short-season Single-A Everett, so the Rainiers sent Mike Morin — who came into Tuesday averaging less than four outs per appearance — for his third start of the season, opening a seven-game stretch with a bullpen day.

On the flip side, Listach also found himself without an opponent. Due to a complicated flight schedule and the smoke in the PNW causing delays at SeaTac, it took the Aces over 12 hours to get from Reno to Tacoma, and they didn’t get in until after 4:30 p.m., rushing to the hotel, then the field, and showing up just a bit after 5.

The smoke and haze wasn’t just causing travel problems; it’s shown up as a factor in the games as well. Cheney Stadium isn’t the easiest place to catch pop-ups, especially in evening games, but this homestand, it’s become something else.

“Especially at twilight, it’s a mixture between the sun going down, the lights, the low lights,” second baseman Adam Law said before the game. “When that ball gets above the lights in that five, 10-minute window, it can be kind of a circus out there. You’ve got to rely on your teammates and coaches, and hopefully someone will see it and communicate to you.”

In Tacoma’s four-game series against Fresno last weekend, it became apparent early that there would be no such thing as a routine pop-up. In one inning alone, there was a ball just a few feet over from first base in foul territory that Grizzlies first baseman AJ Reed lost right off the bat and had no chance at. Later, Andrew Aplin lifted one up to the left side of the infield that came down right next to where shortstop Alex De Goti thought it would for an RBI double.

“I’ve noticed it a lot more these past four games than previous weeks, just with no sun, you really have to battle out there,” Law said.

According to Listach, there’s only so much that can be done, other than make batting practice some days optional.

“Everybody here is pretty healthy,” Listach said. “We just have to be careful. They’re probably in better shape than most Americans, so we just monitor what we do and keep an eye on the air quality. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

But as Aplin proved, it definitely makes you hustle out of the box.

“If you hit the ball in the air in twilight, get on your horse and see what happens,” Law said.

Oriole Andreoli

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind for John Andreoli. Four days ago, he was in Tacoma. Three days ago he was designated for assignment, taken off of waivers by Baltimore, and sent to Triple-A Norfolk. Tuesday, he was recalled to the big leagues, started in right field for the Orioles in Toronto and picked up his first hit for his new club.

“We took a chance that no other team would claim him, and we lost,” Listach said. “But good for him. Just like what happened with Detwiler — it could happen to a nicer guy than Johnny.”

This story was originally published August 21, 2018 at 6:17 PM.