Rainiers notes: Sheffield named PCL pitcher of the week; Tacoma splits Reno road series
Justus Sheffield’s journey back to a starting rotation reached a new peak in Thursday’s dazzling start.
Tacoma’s southpaw dominated opposing Triple-A Reno hitters in the third game of a six-game road set at Greater Nevada Field, pitching six scoreless frames. He whiffed seven, allowing only four hits across 82 pitches, his second-most in an appearance this season.
Monday, he was named the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week.
“Realistically, (Sheffield’s) probably our best option right now,” manager Tim Federowicz said. “He’s thrown the ball well, and he’s been built up far enough. He’s been there before.”
The outing propelled Tacoma to a 7-0 victory and was the team’s third consecutive road win. Reno won each of the last three contests to split the six-game series at three apiece.
Sheffield’s performance was his best of the season, particularly with the Rainiers after he was optioned by the major league club on May 2. Acquired from New York in a late-2018 deal that sent Seattle lefty James Paxton to the Yankees, Sheffield has appeared for the Mariners in parts of four major league seasons, posting an 11-12 record and 5.36 ERA in 43 games (32 starts).
A forearm injury last July derailed more than two months of his 2021 campaign. Upon return, the starting pitcher was left out of a rotation bolstered for a postseason push, headlined by the deadline trade for Tyler Anderson.
Sheffield’s role had changed. Suddenly — at least for the remainder of last year — he was a reliever.
“I told myself that I wanted to keep that same mentality … a starter mentality, I guess,” he told reporters in Seattle last September. “But my next (relief appearance), I was just like, ‘Man, forget it. I’m about to come out and just be a dog out there and let it fly.’ ”
At the time, Sheffield “didn’t care” whether his role shifted. His priority was to be back on a mound and not watching from the television, isolated.
Though in his mind, Sheffield would always be a starter. The transition to the bullpen — if all went well — would be temporary.
“I’m gonna come in next year as prepared as ever to be ready to be able to get a spot in the rotation,” he said last season.
Seattle missed the postseason in 2021 but signed reigning American League Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to a five-year deal. Yusei Kikuchi and Tyler Anderson departed via free agency, and Matt Brash earned the team’s final rotation slot in spring training, now owned by rookie prospect George Kirby. Sheffield made the Opening Day roster but remained in the bullpen.
He made four scoreless relief appearances for the Mariners in 2022 — surrendering one hit in 4-2/3 total innings — but was sent to Tacoma last month when major league rosters shrunk from 28 players to 26. That’s when Sheffield’s starting role materialized.
Opposing hitters rocked him for nine runs in 3-1/3 innings across his opening pair of Triple-A starts, but the former first-round pick rebounded for nine innings of three-run ball in his next two appearances. In four of his last five starts, Sheffield allowed two runs or fewer, and Thursday’s six-inning performance was his longest since a start for the Mariners on May 15, 2021.
“He’s starting to bring consistency, which is nice,” Federowicz said. “His first couple of starts were obviously rough because he’s working back into the rotation, getting built up to be a starter, and now he’s there. He’s just really helping us stabilize our rotation and giving us lengthy outings, scoreless outings, and just keeping us in the game.”
Sheffield conceded lead-off hits in each of Thursday’s first three frames but worked out of every jam. After Reno’s Buddy Kennedy poked a ground ball into right field for a second-inning single, Sheffield walked Drew Ellis before prompting a lineout and a pair of strikeouts to silence the threat. He confused Reno hitters with a consistent mix of sinkers and sliders, plus an occasional changeup.
“Some guys are able to calm themselves down once there’s traffic on the bases, and others get a little tighter, and miss their spots a little bit more,” Federowicz said. “But Sheff has been looking very comfortable in those situations.
“The game’s not speeding up on him. He’s just able to make pitches to get out of innings.”
Sheffield induced a double play in the fourth and retired his final seven batters. Before Sheffield took to the mound in the bottom of the first, Jarred Kelenic led off Thursday’s win with a solo homer and Forrest Wall walked in a run to give Tacoma an early 2-0 advantage.
The eventual shutout victory secured a series split following wins on Tuesday and Wednesday by scores of 3-2 and 6-5, respectively. Tacoma dropped each of their last three games with the Aces. On Friday, Reno grabbed an 8-3 victory and won again Saturday, 6-2.
Tacoma trailed 4-1 in the eighth inning of Sunday’s series finale, but rallied for four runs to claim a late lead. Brian O’Keefe’s two-run homer plated veteran Justin Upton and gave the Rainiers a 5-4 lead before Reno countered in the ninth with Dominic Canzone’s walk-off two-run single.
The 6-5 loss capped a series split with the Aces, and dropped the Rainiers to 19-34.
SHORT HOPS
▪ Federowicz tested positive for COVID-19 on May 26 and missed Tacoma’s six-game set in Reno. That set the stage Tuesday for former Seattle catcher and current player development manager Dan Wilson, who made his managerial debut for Tacoma and notched his first career Triple-A win by a 3-2 score.
“(Dan’s) awesome,” Federowicz said. “He’s been a great resource for me, for a lot of other coaches, a lot of catchers. Just to have any type of experience like he’s had just brings so much information, so many ideas, so much experience. He’s just a great guy to have around.”
Federowicz said he was asymptomatic and is eligible to rejoin the Rainiers for the first of a three-game set in Salt Lake on Tuesday.
▪ Veteran outfielder Justin Upton made his organizational debut on June 1 with Tacoma and homered in Sunday’s 6-5 loss. Seattle signed Upton, 34, to a one-year major league contract on May 21. Selected first overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2005 MLB Draft, Upton amassed 324 homers and 1,000 RBI across 15 major league seasons, and Seattle plans to welcome him to the major league roster upon completion of a rehab-like stint with the Rainiers.
“He still needs to get some at-bats,” Federowicz said of Upton, who hasn’t appeared in a major league game in over nine months. “He’s only played (four games) so far, so that’s obviously something that he needs to build back up. It will probably be similar to a rehab assignment, where guys have about 20 days. We’ll just kind of see where he’s at, and how he’s feeling.”
▪ With a pair of hits on Sunday, Kelenic extended his hit streak to 11 games, a club-best this season. Since the streak began, Kelenic is 17-for-45 (.377) with 11 runs, four home runs and 10 RBI. He’s striking out at a 29 percent clip in Tacoma, down from a 38% rate in Seattle earlier this season.
“You can see it in his rhythm. You can see it in his swings. They’re just a lot easier,” Federowicz said of the 22-year-old. “You can tell that he’s consciously trying to drive the ball to left-center field, which is a great approach... He’s having fun. He’s relaxed.”
▪ Tacoma’s 75 stolen bases this season tops the PCL. It’s not close — Reno ranks second with 64 swiped bags.
ON TAP
Tacoma (19-34) kicks off a three-game road series in Salt Lake with the Bees on Tuesday. Sheffield gets the nod in the opener, with first pitch scheduled for 5:35 p.m. Pacific.
On Friday, the Rainiers return home to Cheney Stadium, first for a three-game weekend series with Round Rock. They’ll round out the remainder of their nine-game homestand in a six-game set with Sacramento, starting June 14.
