Kitties Blank Rainiers for Third Straight Victory

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Two runs in both the third and sixth innings combined with dominant pitching produced the third shutout win of the season for the Sacramento River Cats, as Sacramento blanked the Tacoma Rainiers by 4-0 final on Thursday.

A single from Yusniel Diaz and a walk to Jakson Reetz became the first runs scored in the contest, as the River Cats (20-10) took the lead on a Luis Matos RBI double to left field that scored the former before the later scored on a throwing error by Rainiers (17-13) starter Dallas Keuchel (2-3).

Insurance was added in the sixth thanks to the bat of Marco Luciano, using a similar formula as a leadoff single by Casey Schmitt and a walk to Heliot Ramos both came around to score on a two-RBI single into right field.

Outside of that offense, the game was all about pitching as Spencer Howard drew the start and scattered three hits over 4.0 innings. Howard struck out a season-high eight hitters in the process, the most in a game by a River Cats pitcher this year and the most since Tristan Beck also punched out eight on Sept. 17, 2023 against Sugar Land. This was Howard’s first time with eight or more strikeouts since he punched out 11 on June 30, 2022 as a member of Round Rock against Las Vegas.

Following Howard was Clay Helvey (2-1), who earned his second win of the season after tossing his fourth scoreless outing as he allowed just one hit while striking out four. Overall this season, Helvey sports a 0.75 ERA as he has allowed just one earned run in 12.0 combined innings over five appearances.

After two scoreless frames by Cody Stashak, taking the baton for the final inning was 2023 Triple-A wins leader Nick Avila. The Modesto, Calif. native worked a 1-2-3 ninth and has still yet to allow a run or hit in his five games this season, a stretch that spans 6.1 innings. In four of his five outings, he has worked 1.0 inning or more.

River Cats pitchers struck out a season-high tying 15 batters, their second time punching out double-digit batters in their past three games and the ninth time in the past 11 contests. Overall, Sacramento has struck out 10 or more batters a total of 14 times. Additionally, the River Cats did not issue a walk for the first time this season, the first time since Aug. 12, 2023 in a 10-8 loss on the road against Las Vegas.

All six Sacramento hits in the contest came from different bats, with Matos the only one logging an extra-base hit with his double while he and Luciano were the only two to drive in runs. Also logging a hit was Trenton Brooks, who has hit safely in seven straight games (9-for-21, .429).

Tonight’s win marked the fourth winning streak of three games or more this season, and also marked the third shutout win of the season for the River Cats, their first since they blanked El Paso by a 4-0 score on April 14. This was the first shutout loss of the season for Tacoma, their first since they were also blanked by the River Cats last season on Aug. 20, 2023 by a 5-0 final.

With tonight’s win, Sacramento has clinched a split in their sixth series of the year. The last time they went six series without a loss to begin the year was the 2012 campaign when they played a total of 11 series before taking a loss in series 12 (seven series wins, four ties).

Sacramento will try for its fourth series win of the season tomorrow when these two teams take the field for game four of the series, with first pitch from Sutter Health Park at 6:45 p.m.