Tacoma Drops Series Finale 5-3 to Sacramento

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (June 7, 2026) — The Tacoma Rainiers (25-38) erased an early 2-0 deficit with a three-run sixth inning, but could not hold the lead as the Sacramento River Cats (37-24) rallied late to take the series finale 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. Randy Dobnak turned in his fifth quality start of the season, allowing three earned runs over 6.0 innings, taking a no-decision. Alejo Lopez and Colin Davis drove in two of Tacoma’s three runs in the loss.

Dobnak worked around traffic in the first inning, but Sacramento got on the board in the bottom of the second inning. Drew Cavanaugh and Scott Bandura hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, putting runners on the corners. Jake Holton grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, bringing in Cavanaugh for the first game’s first run and giving Sacramento a 1-0 lead.

Sacramento tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Will Brennen hit a leadoff single and advanced to third base on a pair of groundouts. With two gone, Bandura looped a single in front of the center fielder Victor Labrada to drive Brennen and put the River Cats up 2-0.

Tacoma capitalized on a trio of walks to take the lead in the top of the sixth inning. Axel Sanchez drew the first one to lead off the inning. With Hogan Windish at the plate, Sanchez stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw. Miles Mastrobuoni walked to put runners on the corners for Alejo Lopez, who drove in Tacoma’s first run with an RBI single to left field. Mastrobuoni stole third with Spencer Packard at the plate, and eventually scored via a wild pitch on ball four to Packard, tying the game at two. With one out, Lopez and Packard attempted a double-steal, but Lopez was thrown out for the second out of the inning. Colin Davis got the momentum back for the Rainiers, as he ripped a double down the left field line to drive in Packard and put Tacoma on top 3-2.

The River Cats struck back in the bottom of the sixth. Nate Furman hit a leadoff double down the right field line, but Dobnak recovered by getting the next two hitters to ground out. However, Cavanaugh ripped the second double of the inning down the right field line and drove in Furman to tie the game at three.

Michel Rucker took over for Tacoma in the seventh inning, working around a two-out double and a pair of walks to leave the bases loaded and keep the game tied.

Sacramento took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. After Nick Davila retired the leadoff man, the next four River Cats reached base. Cavanaugh walked, Bandura singled and Holton put Sacramento on top with a broken-bat single to left field. Turner Hill followed with a double to right-center field, driving in Bandura to make it 5-3.

The Rainiers went down in order in the ninth inning, dropping the game 5-3 and ultimately, the series, taking two of the four games at Sutter Health Park. The Rainiers return home to Cheney Stadium on Tuesday to open a six-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes, with first pitch scheduled for 11:35 AM.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• The Rainiers were successful in their first three stolen base attempts of the game before Alejo Lopez was caught in the sixth inning…Lopez’s caught stealing snapped Tacoma’s streak of 14 consecutive steals without being caught, their longest since 14 straight successful attempts from August 19-22, 2025.
• RHP Randy Dobnak logged his fifth quality start of the season, tied for the second-most in the minor leagues…the quality start was also Tacoma’s 17th of the season, the most in the minors…Tacoma’s 17 quality starts are the most for a PCL team through 63 games since the 2024 Rainiers had 18.
• RHP Michael Rucker threw a scoreless seventh inning, lowering his ERA to 1.59…among Triple-A pitchers with at least 20 appearances this season, Rucker’s 1.59 ERA is the fifth-best…among PCL pitchers with at least 20 appearances, Rucker’s 2.78 K/BB ratio also ranks sixth…17 of Rucker’s 22 appearances have been scoreless outings.
• Tacoma pitchers issued three walks on Sunday, the eighth straight game with three-or-fewer walks allowed, the longest streak in Triple-A and tied for the fourth-longest in the minor leagues…it’s Tacoma’s longest streak since going eight straight games from August 15-23, 2024.