April 10 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Reno Aces

TACOMA RAINIERS (7-3) vs. RENO ACES (5-4)
Wednesday, April 10 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (1-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Logan Allen (0-0, 3.86)

TONIGHT’S GAME: The Rainiers and Aces continue their series with game two tonight, as Jhonathan Diaz gets the nod for Tacoma. Diaz will look to continue his stellar start to the season, as the lefty has combined to throw 11.0 scoreless innings over his first two starts. Diaz’ last start came on Thursday against Salt Lake, when he spun six scoreless frames. He allowed just six hits and was one strikeout short of his career high, with 10 on the day. Opposite of Diaz will be former Rainier, Logan Allen taking the ball for Reno. Allen was 5-2 with a 4.66 ERA in 14 games (10 starts) with the Rainiers last year and will face his former team tonight. Through two games this year, Allen is 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA, allowing three earned runs on six hits and two walks over 7.0 innings.

QUIET THEM DOWN: Reno entered yesterday’s game hitting .321 with 14 home runs and 69 total runs scored, leading the Pacific Coast League in all three categories. Last night, however, Tacoma’s pitching staff held them off the board, limiting the Aces to just two hits. They walked one while striking out 11 and turned two double plays to keep Reno’s high-powered offense scoreless.

GROW THE LEAD: Tacoma and Reno entered last night’s contest atop the Pacific Coast League West Division standings, with the Rainiers leading the Aces by a half-game. After last night’s victory, Tacoma improved to 7-3 and moved Reno to 5-4 on the year, growing their lead to 1.5 games. Next in the standings in Sacramento, at 5-5, followed by Salt Lake at 4-6 and Las Vegas at 2-7.

FIRST OF MANY: Jonatan Clase grew Tacoma’s lead in the fifth inning with a two-run triple last night, marking the first triple of his Triple-A career. Not only was it the first of his seven-game Triple-A career, it was also the first of the season for the Rainiers, who have just 12 extra-base hits this season entering play tonight. Through his five-year minor league career, Clase now has 27 triples, recording seven or more in each of his previous four seasons.

BACK-AND-FORTH: Cade Marlowe has had an interesting start to the season. In the season opener, the outfielder went 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts, but followed that with a five-game hit streak. Over that streak from March 30 to April 4, he hit .286 (6-for-21) with four RBI. Since then, in four games from April 5-9, Marlowe is hitless, going 0-for-12 with four walks and 10 strikeouts. Strikeouts have been a problem for the 26-year-old, as he now has seven multi-strikeout games this year. Marlowe has been struck out 20 times this year, including 14 times in the month of April. His 20 strikeouts account for 22% of Tacoma’s 93 total strikeouts as a team.

LEAGUE LEADERS: Tonight’s starter, Jhonathan Diaz, enters tonight’s game ranked in the top-10 of Pacific Coast League rankings in ERA (1st, 0.00), strikeouts (T4th, 15), innings pitched (T8th, 11.0) and WHIP (3rd, 0.82). The southpaw has yet to allow a run to score this year, surrendering nine hits and hitting four batters compared to 15 strikeouts. The Rainiers also have three players in the top-10 among PCL base stealers, with Ryan Bliss leading the way with seven. Bliss is also in the top-10 in walks, drawing eight so far this season.

STARTING STRONG: With another 5.0 scoreless innings from Michael Mariot last night, Tacoma’s starting pitchers have now gone 4-1 with a 0.65 ERA over the last five games. Each starter in their current five-man rotation was a part of the fun over the last five games, as they have combined to allow just two earned runs on 20 hits and three walks over their last 27.2 innings. Four of the five earned their first win of the year, with Casey Lawrence being the only starter to not get a win and to allow any runs. Lawrence got tagged with two earned runs and the loss in his 6.1 innings in the finale at Salt Lake on Sunday.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE: Tacoma drew eight walks as a team last night, with seven of the nine starters getting at least one free pass. Ryan Bliss led the way with two walks, giving him a team-leading eight on the year, tied for seventh-most in the Pacific Coast League. Batters who had been walked were the only ones to come around and score for Tacoma last night, as all four runs scored reached base via a free pass.

AGAINST RENO: Tacoma looks for the second straight win against Reno tonight after taking the series opener last night by a score of 4-0. The Rainiers went 13-11 against Reno last year and were 6-6 here at Cheney Stadium, starting the 2024 season off going 1-0 against the Aces. With their win, they are now 41 games below the .500 mark against Reno all-time, at 102-143.

SHORT HOPS: Jhonathan Diaz has yet to walk a batter this year, but has hit four batters through his first two starts of the year…Joey Krehbiel threw a scoreless final frame for Tacoma last night, marking the first time the Rainiers hadn’t allowed a run to score in the final inning of a game since last Saturday, March 30…Trevor Kelley struck out the side in a perfect seventh inning last night, needing just 16 pitches to get through the frame…Ryan Bliss stole two more bases last night for a team and league-leading seven bags on the year; Tacoma leads the PCL and are second in all of Triple-A with 24 stolen bases as a team.