Sacramento Snags Victory Over Tacoma with Four Unanswered

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Trailing by two after the first four innings, the Sacramento River Cats flipped the switch and snatched a victory thanks to four unanswered runs leading to a 4-2 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers on Thursday.

The Rainiers (29-25) started the scoring by plating a run in the top of the first, using three straight one-out singles to push the run home with the RBI belonging to Tyler Locklear. Tacoma added on in the fourth, as Jason Vosler crushed his second homer in as many days by sending an 0-1 pitch into the bullpens in right field to lead off the frame.

Soon after the River Cats (32-22) broke through, kicking things off in the home half of the fifth with the second triple of the campaign from Brett Auerbach. Standing 90 feet from home, he scored easily on an Ismael Munguia RBI single into left field.

After going quiet in the sixth and seventh, Sacramento found all they needed in the bottom of the eight to steal their first lead of the game. With two on and two away, Blake Sabol delivered an RBI single into center field that tied the contest while Donny Sands followed immediately with the go-ahead RBI single into right field. On the same play, Sabol had his head up on the basepaths and scored an insurance run that pushed the game to its final of 4-2.

After initially being called upon in the seventh, Spencer Bivens (4-0) escaped danger and spoiled a bases-loaded opportunity for Tacoma by inducing a double play. Bivens then just allowed one base runner in the eighth on a double from Vosler, and worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his fourth win of the season.

For the River Cats, this was just the fourth win of the season when trailing after the seventh inning, as they are now 4-19 in such contests including a 2-8 mark at Sutter Health Park. On the flip side, it was just the second loss for Tacoma when leading after seven innings, as they were 24-1 in such situations entering tonight.

Helping keep the score close in the middle innings was the duo of Cody Stashak and Reggie Crawford, with the former being activated off the injured list just prior to the game. Stashak needed only 11 pitches to get through the fifth, while Crawford went 1.1 innings and allowed one hit but also walked two with three strikeouts.

Sands was the only River Cat with multiple hits, including one of the most clutch knocks of the night when he drove in the go-ahead run. In total, six River Cats logged a hit in the contest which included the only Sacramento extra-base hit from Auerbach. Two that did not get a hit were Donovan Walton and David Villar, both of whom watched their respective hitting streaks come to an end.

Saturday will see Sacramento attempt to take win number three in the series, with first pitch from Sutter Health Park tossed at 6:37 p.m. (PT).