Rainiers Hold Three Leads but Fall in Walk-Off Fashion to Bees

Salt Lake City, UT - The Tacoma Rainiers held three separate leads in their series opener on Monday at Smith's Ballpark, including two in the eighth and ninth innings, but the Salt Lake Bees scored two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to claim a 7-6 walk-off victory.
A night after walking off Sacramento, the Rainiers (9-16) garnered a third inning advantage on Braden Bishop's RBI double that scored Ian Miller. The center fielder also drove in all four Tacoma runs on Sunday.
After Salt Lake (8-15) rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third, Tacoma bounced back with a run-scoring single from Orlando Calixte, plating Jose Lobaton to cut the deficit, 3-2.

The Rainiers were held scoreless again until the eighth, but rallied for three runs on four consecutive hits, starting with a Tim Lopes single. He was brought around by Miller's eighth double off the top of the center field fence, and Kristopher Negrón singled in Miller for his second run of the night. The three-run ambush was capped by Shed Long's second triple, allowing Negron to cross and make it 5-4.
The Bees tied the game in the bottom of the eighth but Joey Curletta roped his first Triple-A two bagger in the ninth, giving the Rainiers their third and final lead as J.P. Crawford scored the go-ahead run.
Aaron Northcraft (0-1), who recorded the final out of the eighth inning, got two outs in the ninth but a Jose Rojas chopper through the left side of the infield on a 0-2 pitch brought in Taylor Ward and two-way player Jared Walsh (1-0) to end the game.
Walsh not only scored the game-winning run, he pitched the top of the ninth was credited with the victory despite allowing Tacoma's go-ahead run.
Tacoma won the hits column with 15 knocks, including five players with multi-hit games: Lobaton (3-for-5), Curletta (2-for-5), Calixte (2-for-4), Miller (2-for-4) and Negron (2-for-4).
Right-hander Christian Bergman got the nod for the Rainiers, going four innings and surrendering three runs on five hits and a walk. The UC-Irvine product struck out five, including four in the first two scoreless innings.
Righties Tayler Scott, David McKay and Northcraft all pitched in relief and each allowed at least one run, but Tacoma pitchers combined to strike out 11 and walked three Bees.
Game two of the four-game road trip continues on Tuesday at 5:35 p.m. when left-handed veteran Tommy Milone (1-2) matches up against Salt Lake right-hander Forrest Snow (0-2, 6.52). Mike Curto will have full coverage on South Sound Talk 850, with audio streaming available on the Rainiers TuneIn Radio Network.
All tickets, group outings, and suites packages for the 2019 season are available for purchase in person at the Cheney Stadium Box Office, online at TacomaRainiers.com and WeRTacoma.com, or over the phone at (253) 752-7707. The most up-to-date news and notes about the Rainiers throughout the season can be found by following the Rainiers on Twitter (@RainiersLand), Instagram (tacomarainiers) or liking the team on Facebook.
- We R Tacoma -
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