May 5 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Sacramento River Cats

TACOMA RAINIERS (18-14) @ SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS (21-11)
Sunday, May 5 • 1:05 PM • Sutter Health Park • Sacramento, CA
RHP Michael Mariot (1-0, 4.30) vs. RHP Landen Roupp (0-0, -.--)

TODAY’S GAME: Tacoma and Sacramento are set to play the series finale today, with the River Cats having already won the series, taking four of the first five games played. Michael Mariot will take the ball for the Rainiers, looking to salvage the series with a win in the finale. Mariot is 1-0 with a 4.30 ERA through five starts for Tacoma this year, allowing 11 earned runs on 18 hits and four home runs, walking five batters compared to 15 strikeouts. He will be facing Sacramento for the third time in his career and first start, as his first two appearances came as relief outings against the River Cats back in 2013 as a member of the Omaha Storm Chasers. Getting the starting nod for Sacramento will be right-hander Landen Roupp. Roupp is set to make his first appearance of the season for the River Cats, having pitched in 10 games this year with San Francisco. The 25-year-old had his contract selected by the Giants on March 28 and was with them until being optioned to Sacramento on April 23. He was recalled on April 24 but just optioned again on May 1. In his 10 relief outings with the Giants, Roupp was 0-0 with a 5.27 ERA, allowing eight earned runs on 14 hits and eight walks while striking out 12. His longest outing this year was 2.0 innings on April 30 against Boston.

DID HIS PART: For the third straight outing on Major League rehab, Bryan Woo didn’t allow a single run. The right-hander entered play last night with 6.1 scoreless outings, having allowed two hits while striking out 11 batters over his first two rehab stints. Last night, he tossed another 5.0 scoreless innings, giving up just three hits while striking out six of the 18 batters he faced. Woo now has tossed 11.1 innings of scoreless ball over his three rehab starts, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out 17. Opponents are hitting just .128 against the right-hander, who built up to a season-high 66 pitches last night.

SIT DOWN: Tacoma struck out a season-high 18 times last night, giving them 63 strikeouts through the first five games of the series. Their 63 strikeouts account for 19% of their 324 total strikeouts this year, in 16% (5-of-32) of their season’s games. Their 324 strikeouts this year rank second in all of Triple-A, just 17 behind the Norfolk Tides, who have struck out 341 times. The strikeouts have been a big reason for their lack of scoring, as the Rainiers have pushed across just 13 runs through the first five games of the series. 18 strikeouts were two shy of last year’s season high mark of 20 strikeouts set on July 15 versus Round Rock.
BACK-TO-BACK: Last night’s loss gave Tacoma four losses this series and their second consecutive road series loss. The Rainiers dropped four-of-six games to Las Vegas from April 16-21 and now have lost four of the first five here at Sacramento. They are now 4-2 in their six series played this year, winning all three at home but going 1-2 on the road.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE FOURTH: Tacoma struck out a season-high 18 times last night, as four different players each struck out three times. Eight of the Rainiers’ nine starting hitters struck out at least once. The 18 strikeouts came on May 4 and surpassed their previous high in team strikeouts of 16 set back on April 4 against Salt Lake. So far on the fourth day of the two months Tacoma has played this year, they have totaled 34 strikeouts.

STRANDED: Tacoma couldn’t push across a single run in last night’s 1-0 loss, marking their second shutout loss of the series and season. The Rainiers had many chances to score, going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They left 11 men on-base in the 1-0 loss, including the bases loaded in the sixth. In the first inning, the first two batters reached base via a walk, but the next three struck out, ending the threat. In the sixth, they loaded the bases with no outs and went on to strike out three consecutive times. They had another great chance in the seventh when Nick Solak got to third with no outs, but a ground out and two strikeouts ended that threat as well.

AGAINST SACRAMENTO: Sacramento took the series with their fourth win in the first five games last night, shutting out Tacoma for the second time this series. With the win, the River Cats moved to 4-1 this year and 252-242 all-time against Tacoma. Through the first five games of the series, the River Cats have doubled-up Tacoma in the runs scored category, at 20-10.

SHORT HOPS: The Rainiers are 1-3 to start the month of May, striking out in 53 of their 121 at-bats, good for 44%...last night was the third time this year in which Tacoma was held to just three hits, their season low for a nine-inning game…Tacoma is now 0-3 in one-run games on the road and 0-11 when trailing after seven innings this year…Sacramento has scored twice as many runs as Tacoma has this series, outscoring the Rainiers 20-10 through the first five games...Carlos Vargas suffered the loss last night, giving up just his second earned run of the season; the righty has an ERA of 1.64 in his 11.0 innings with Tacoma this year.