April 20 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Las Vegas Aviators

TACOMA RAINIERS (13-6) @ Las Vegas Aviators (7-11)
Saturday, April 20 • 7:05 PM • Las Vegas Ballpark • Las Vegas, NV
RHP Michael Mariot (1-0, 4.85) vs. RHP Osvaldo Bido (2-1, 4.40)

TONIGHT’S GAME: With the series even at two games apiece, Tacoma and Las Vegas will play game five of their six-game series tonight. Michael Mariot will take the ball for his fourth start of the season with Tacoma, looking for his second win. The righty comes into play tonight with a 1-0 record and a 4.85 ERA in three starts, allowing seven earned runs on nine hits including three home runs. He has walked four batters while striking out 10, limiting opponents to a .191 batting average against him over his 13.0 innings pitched. On the other side, Osvaldo Bido gets the start for the Aviators. The right-hander is 2-1 with a 4.40 ERA in three starts this year, allowing seven earned runs on 16 hits and six walks over 14.1 innings. He has struck out 20 batters over that span, allowing opponents to hit .281 against him.

FIND THE ZONE: Tacoma’s pitching staff combined to walk a season-high 11 batters last night. They allowed just seven hits, but 11 runs came across with so many free passes being handed out. The 11 walks nearly doubled the previous season high of six walks for Tacoma’s pitching staff, set back on April 14 against Reno. All five pitchers for the Rainiers walked at least one batter, with four of the five walking multiple Aviators. Trevor Kelley led the team, with four walks in his one-third of an inning pitched.

SLOW THEM DOWN: Last night marked the first time all year Tacoma has allowed double-digit runs to score, as they lost the game 11-7. Their previous high mark was nine runs allowed in their second game of the year, on March 30 against Oklahoma City. As a team, Las Vegas knocked seven hits including two doubles and a home run, while taking 11 walks.

GET BACK ON TOP: For the first time since April 5, Tacoma will enter play tonight in a tie for first place in the Pacific Coast League West standings. After their two straight losses and two straight wins from Sacramento, the two teams are tied atop the standings, at 13-6. Back on April 5, the Rainiers were 5-2 and tied for first place. Since then, they have been the sole leaders of the PCL West division, growing their lead as big as two games throughout the course of the season. Now, after their first back-to-back losses of the season, they are tied at the top again, at 13-6.

WALK DOWN THE LINE: Cade Marlowe drew two more walks last night, giving him 16 on the year. His 16 free passes lead the team and are tied for second among all players in the Pacific Coast League. This series, the outfielder has taken more walks than he has strikeouts, walking seven times while striking out four. Despite hitting just .203 (13-for-64) in 18 games, his 16 walks give him an on-base percentage of .354.

STARTING TO CLICK: From April 7-13, Brian Anderson struggled at the plate, hitting just .056 (1-for-18) with his lone hit being a double. He drove in one run and took one walk while striking out seven times over that span. Since the finale against Reno on Sunday, April 14, the infielder has played in three games and has a season-long three-game hitting streak going. He went 1-for-2 on Sunday, 1-for-5 on Wednesday against Las Vegas, and 2-for-3 in last night’s game. Last night marked just the second multi-hit game of the year for Anderson, who also clubbed his first home run of the season. He is hitting .400 (4-for-10) over his last three games and will look to carry the momentum forward at the plate.

FIRST FOR EVERYTHING: Tonight’s game will be the first Saturday road game of the year for the Rainiers, as their first scheduled Saturday road game against Salt Lake got postponed due to snow. Tacoma has played two Saturday games at home and have lost both of them, so they are in search of their first win on a Saturday all season.

NEED A GOOD ONE: After using five relievers in a bullpen game last night, Tacoma needs a good start out of Michael Mariot tonight. The 35-year-old has given the Rainiers at least 4.0 innings in each of his three starts but is coming off his worst start of the year. In his first two outings, Mariot went 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA, allowing just two earned runs on three hits over 9.0 innings. In those two starts, he walked four batters while striking out five. In his most recent start, his second start against Reno, Mariot allowed five earned runs on six hits including three home runs. He didn’t walk a batter but only struck out one as well.

AGAINST LAS VEGAS: After back-to-back wins from Las Vegas, Tacoma and the Aviators come into game five of their six-game series tonight with the series tied 2-2. Tacoma won each of the first two games but have dropped the last two and now need to win the final two games to earn their fourth straight series victory. Last night was the 300th win of all-time for Las Vegas over the Rainiers, as Tacoma now holds a five-game lead all-time against the Aviators, at 305-300.

SHORT HOPS: Last night marked just the second loss of the year for Tacoma when they score first, moving to 10-2 in such games…Las Vegas’ six-run third inning was the biggest inning allowed by Tacoma all year, as they had previously allowed four runs in a lone inning three times…the Rainiers are 2-3 when scoring seven runs this season after their 11-7 loss last night…Tacoma out-hit Las Vegas 9-7 and lost last night, marking their first loss of the season when out-hitting their opponent; they are now 9-1 this year in games in which they have more hits than their opponent.