Bishop drives in three in series-opening loss

West Sacramento, Calif. — After the first inning got away from starting pitcher Sean Hjelle, the deficit was to too large to overcome as the Sacramento River Cats (47-59) lost game one of the series to the Tacoma Rainiers (65-44).

With the aid of four singles and two walks, Tacoma struck for seven first-inning runs against Hjelle, who failed to help his own cause as his throwing error contributed to the damage. The Rainiers added a couple more in the second inning but thankfully Hjelle was able to cruise through the third inning to save the bullpen a bit.

Offensively it was practically the Braden Bishop show as the former Seattle Mariners prospect raked half of the team’s hits and drove in three of their four runs. Thursday night’s left fielder, batting eighth in the order, singled home a run in the second and doubled home a pair in the fourth. The only other run was supplied by an opposite-field shot off the bat of first baseman Wyatt Mathisen.

Tacoma will get to face back-to-back tall right-handers as the River Cats will hand the ball to Logan Ondrusek for Friday night’s matchup. Tacoma is scheduled to go with righty Robert Dugger. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. (PT). Listen to Johnny Doskow call the game live online at rivercats.com or on the MiLB First Pitch app.

Additional Notes

• Bishop launched the double, his 16th of the season, to straight-away center field off the unusually tall fence at the 425-foot mark at Cheney Stadium, meaning it most certainly would have been a home run in most if not all other Triple-A West ballparks.
• Right-hander Ronnie Williams, having just been transferred from Double-A Richmond, made his Triple-A debut and needed just 10 pitches to coast through a perfect fifth inning. The 25-year old Williams was striking out hitters at a 23.4% clip and holding them to a .193 batting average with just 43 hits allowed in 62.1 innings while with the Flying Squirrels.