March 30 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Oklahoma City Baseball Club

TACOMA RAINIERS (1-0) vs. OKLAHOMA CITY BASEBALL CLUB (0-1)
Saturday, March 30 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Levi Stoudt (0-0, -.--) vs. RHP Eduardo Salazar (0-0, -.--)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Baseball Club will play game two of their three game series, with Tacoma holding a 1-0 lead after their extra-innings victory last night. Tonight’s starters will try to replicate what Jhonathan Diaz and Landon Knack did last night, as they each spun five scoreless innings in the season opener. Levi Stoudt is set to take the ball for his first start of the 2024 season for the Rainiers. Stoudt pitched in two total games for the Mariners in Spring Training this year, allowing two earned runs on four hits while striking out two in his 3.0 innings. Tonight marks the first time in his career that he will face Oklahoma City in his third season pitching at the Triple-A level. Opposite of Stoudt will be Eduardo Salazar getting the starting nod for the Baseball Club. Salazar pitched in relief in 36 games last year between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville, going 1-1 with a 6.65 ERA. He also pitched in eight games with the Reds, going 1-0 with an 8.03 ERA. Tonight will mark not only his first start of the season, but his first since Sept. 15, 2022, with Chattanooga.

WARM UP THE BATS: Tacoma’s offense mustered just three total hits last night in their 1-0 win over Oklahoma City. The Rainiers led off each of the first two innings with singles that immediately got taken away by double plays. Isiah Gilliam knocked a single in the third inning as well, but was caught stealing second to end the inning. That was the last hit they would have despite playing 11 innings.

LATE MAGIC: In his first at-bat of the game, Leo Rivas stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 11th inning with the game tied 0-0 and the potential game winning run on third base. Rivas had entered the game in the bottom of the ninth as a pinch runner and remained in defensively. With the infield in to prevent the run, the 26-year-old delivered with a hard ground ball between the third baseman and shortstop. It was enough to score Samad Taylor and start Tacoma’s 2024 campaign with a victory.

EXTRA, EXTRA: The Baseball Club and Rainiers combined for one extra-base hit last night, a double off the bat of Drew Avans in the fifth inning. Avans was also the lone player to have a multi-hit game last night, checking in with two of Oklahoma City’s four total base knocks.

DOUBLE (PLAY) OR NOTHIN’: Last night’s series opener saw seven combined double plays turned, ending rallies for both offenses. Oklahoma City turned two in each the first and second inning, wiping away leadoff singles from Tacoma. Another came in the bottom of the seventh after two walks and their fourth was in the bottom of the 10th inning with the potential game winning run on third base. Tacoma turned three of their own to dance out of trouble late in the ballgame. They got a strike him out, throw him out to end the eighth, a double play to end the ninth, and an outfield assist to cut down the go-ahead run and end the inning in the 10th.

NOT SO FAST: Offense was limited last night, a 1-0 walk-off win in the 11th inning as the two teams combined for seven hits. A big reason why Tacoma was able to keep the Baseball Club off the board was because of their catcher, Michael Papierski. Papierski caught two base runners trying to steal second and also back-picked a runner at first.

HELLO, OLD FRIEND: Tonight’s starters Levi Stoudt and Eduardo Salazar know each other well. The two were teammates on Triple-A Louisville last year, as Stoudt pitched in 25 games (19 starts) and Salazar pitched in 27 games for the Bats.

AGAINST OKLAHOMA CITY: Tacoma and Oklahoma City are set for the second game of their three-game series tonight. The Rainiers will go for the series victory after winning game one last night and the Baseball Club looks to even the set at one game apiece. Tacoma enters play tonight having gone 94-89 overall all-time against Oklahoma City.

SHORT HOPS: Oklahoma City and Tacoma combined to go 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position last night, stranding 16 total runners on base…Tacoma’s last walk-off win was also against Oklahoma City in 2023, coming back to win 3-2 in 10 innings on August 13…the Rainiers started the season last year with a win against Oklahoma City and went on to lose each of the next two games; they will look to change the script tonight...the Rainiers had five total walk-off wins last season, notching their first of the 2024 campaign last night.