Pitching Pushes Cats to 1-0 Shutout of Rainiers

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Pitching took center stage during the Saturday night showdown between the Sacramento River Cats and Tacoma Rainiers, as Sacramento set their new season high in strikeouts before a late clutch hit powered them to a 1-0 win in game five of the series.

The River Cats’ (21-11) pitching staff punched out a season-high 18 batters on the night, which was their most in a game since they also struck out 18 hitters on the road against Oklahoma City on April 25, 2023. Over half of those strikeouts belonged to starter Carson Whisenhunt, as he set a new career high while becoming the first River Cat to strike out 10 or more batters since Kai-Wei Teng did so last year on Aug. 1 at Sutter Health Park against Reno.

Each of the first six outs for the southpaw came via the strikeout, retiring the side on strikes in each the first and second innings. This is the second time that has happened this series, as Spencer Howard also did so in his start on May 2. That helped Whisenhunt to eclipse his previous career high eight strikeouts, which he did as a Eugene Emerald on May 18, 2023.

Taking the baton was Tanner Andrews, who worked a quick fifth but ran into trouble during his second frame in the sixth. A leadoff triple and a pair of walks loaded the bases without any outs, but Andrews stayed composed and then struck out each of the next three Rainiers (18-14) hitters swinging.

Justin Garza (2-0) had a similar outing after he hit his first batter and then saw him advance all the way to third on a wild pitch and a balk but was able to avoid danger with a groundout and pair of strikeouts.

That’s when the River Cats pushed across the only run in the game, doing so in the home half of the seventh. Heliot Ramos led off the inning with an infield single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ismael Munguia before stealing third, and finally scored on a bloop single from new River Cat Brandon Martorano over the head of first base.

It was Martorano’s first game of the season and his season debut with the River Cats, though it was not his Triple-A debut as he played in one game with Sacramento at the end of the 2021 season, pinch hitting for former River Cat and current Rainier Jason Vosler in the eighth inning and crushing a solo home run. Martorano was the only River Cat to tally a multi-hit game, ending his night 2-for-3.

On to close out the game was Spencer Bivens (5), working a clean ninth inning to pick up his fifth save of the season despite being the only Sacramento pitcher to not record a strikeout. That preserved the win for Garza, his second of the campaign.

This was the fourth shutout win of the season for the River Cats, their second against Tacoma after also shutting them out on May 2 by a 4-0 final. Each of the last three shutout losses for Tacoma have come at the hands of Sacramento, as they also lost a shutout by a 5-0 final on Aug. 20, 2023. The River Cats are still yet to lose a series in 2024, winning four of their first six while splitting the other two.

This six-game series comes to a close tomorrow, with first pitch from Sutter Health Park tossed at 1:05 p.m.