May 4 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Sacramento River Cats

TACOMA RAINIERS (18-13) @ SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS (20-11)
Saturday, May 4 • 6:37 PM • Sutter Health Park • Sacramento, CA
RHP Bryan Woo (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Carson Whisenhunt (0-2, 6.52)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and River Cats will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with Major League rehabber Bryan Woo set to make his third start of the year. Woo has allowed just two hits over 6.1 innings in his first two starts for Tacoma, striking out 11 batters over that span. On the other side, Carson Whisenhunt will take the ball for Sacramento, set for his seventh start of the season. Whisenhunt is 0-2 with a 6.52 ERA through his first six games, allowing 14 earned runs on 20 hits and 13 walks, striking out 29 batters over his 19.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .260 against the southpaw and this will be his first career start against the Rainiers.

DOUBLE DOWN: Tacoma earned their first win of the series last night, scoring six runs on seven hits to beat Sacramento by a score of 6-3. Doubles were a big part of the Rainiers’ success, clubbing four of their seven hits for doubles. Three of the two-baggers Tacoma hit drove in runs, as Blake Hunt and Jonatan Clase drove in three in the second and Cade Marlowe brought an insurance run in in the seventh with a double. The four doubles Tacoma hit marked a new season high, surpassing their previous high of three doubles which they accomplished five different times.

KEEP ON HITTING: Brian Anderson was back in the lineup last night for the first time in the current series, and he made a difference. The infielder went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a run batted in, starting the four-run second inning with his RBI single. It marked the fifth straight game with a hit for Anderson, one shy of his season-long six-game hitting streak back on April 14-23.

ON THE MEND: Bryan Woo is set to make his third start for Tacoma on Major League rehab tonight after starting the season on the injured list for Seattle with a right medial elbow injury. Woo has been stellar through his first two starts, throwing three perfect innings on April 21 at Las Vegas followed by 3.1 scoreless frames last time out against El Paso. In his most recent outing, the 24-year-old allowed two hits, both doubles, striking out six over his 3.1 innings. He threw 31 of his 49 pitches for strikes in the outing.

SNAPPED: Tacoma’s 6-3 victory last night snapped their three-game losing streak to Sacramento and their seven-game road losing streak overall. It marked their first road victory since April 17 against Las Vegas.

SWING AND MISS: Tacoma’s offense has been held down by Sacramento’s pitching staff this series, scoring 13 runs over the first four games of the series. A big key for the River Cats has been their ability to strike the Rainiers out, averaging over 11 strikeouts per game through the first four contests. After striking out 15 times on Thursday, Tacoma struck out 11 more times last night in their first win of the series. They have struck out 45 times this series and 306 this year, third-most in the Pacific Coast League just three behind Salt Lake and two behind Las Vegas.

WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: Trailing the series 3-0 entering play last night, Tacoma sent their ace to the mound. Jhonathan Diaz gave the Rainiers just what they needed, delivering five innings of one-run ball. He allowed four hits and four walks, walking in the lone run he allowed, but struck out six to work around trouble. The southpaw earned his league-leading fifth win of the season, moving to 5-0 with a 2.37 ERA through six starts. Tacoma is now 6-0 when Diaz starts the game, and he has collected exactly half of the wins recorded by Rainiers’ starting pitchers this year on his own.

AGAINST SACRAMENTO: Tacoma earned their first win of the series last night, snapping a three-game losing streak to the River Cats this year and a four-game streak dating back to last year. They are now nine games back of Sacramento in their all-time series, at 251-242.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma is now a perfect 5-0 when scoring six runs this year after last night’s 6-3 victory…the Rainiers stole four bases last night, doubling their two steals they had recorded all series entering play last night; they league the lead in stolen bases with 66, 18 more than Albuquerque who is second with 48.