River Cats overcome 8-run deficit for thrilling 12-11 victory 

Tacoma, Wash. — Down by as many as eight runs, the Sacramento River Cats (56-69) pulled off multiple comebacks to win an exciting 12-11 game at the Tacoma Rainiers (58-67) on Wednesday.

Down 11-10 in the ninth with no outs and a runner on first, left fielder Heliot Ramos promptly tied the game with an RBI double down the left field line.

After two quick outs, pinch hitter Austin Dean came through in the clutch, skying an RBI double between first baseman Evan White and right fielder Jarred Kelenic to give Sacramento its first lead.

Following an error to put the tying run on to lead off the bottom of the ninth, righty Shelby Miller quickly erased any nerves of extras with two strikeouts and a pop out to earn his seventh save for the River Cats.

Sacramento’s outfielders, center fielder Bryce Johnson, right fielder Steele Walker, Ramos, and Dean combined to go 10-for-16 with five runs and five RBIs.

Second baseman Jason Vosler, who set up Ramos and Dean’s ninth-inning heroics with a leadoff single, finished 4-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs.

He led the seven-run third off with a homer, and finished it with an RBI single to become the second River Cat to have two hits in an inning this season, with shortstop Dixon Machado also achieving the feat on Aug. 23 vs Reno.

The comeback would not have been possible without the bullpen, which held Tacoma to two hits and no walks while striking out five over the final 5.0 shutout innings.

Righty Wei-Chieh Huang (1-2, 4.75) will try to make it two in a row with a win on Thursday. He’ll take on lefty Tommy Milone (3-0, 1.13) at 7:05 p.m. (PT) Listen to Johnny Doskow call the game online at rivercats.com or on the MiLB First Pitch app.

Additional Notes

• Catcher Patrick Mazeika, who debuted for the River Cats, originally put Sacramento on the board in the second with a homer. He added an RBI single in the top of the third, finishing the day 2-for-5 with two runs, a walk, and two RBIs.
• Righty Luis Ortiz continued his dominant form with 2.0 scoreless frames. The 26-year-old is 4-0 with 17 strikeouts, a 0.81 WHIP, a .183 opposing batting average, and zero earned runs in his last 21.0 innings.