April 24 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. El Paso Chihuahuas

TACOMA RAINIERS (13-9) vs. EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (10-12)
Wednesday, April 24 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Levi Stoudt (1-1, 5.71) vs. LHP Jackson Wolf (0-2, 9.90)

TONIGHT’S GAME: After El Paso took the opener by a score of 7-5 last night, the Rainiers and Chihuahuas are set to play game two of their series tonight. Levi Stoudt gets the nod for Tacoma, set to make his fifth start of the year and first career start against El Paso. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA through four starts this year, allowing 11 earned runs on 16 hits and 10 walks while striking out 16 batters over 17.1 innings. Tonight will mark his first start in exactly a week, as his last start came last Wednesday, April 17, against the Las Vegas Aviators. Opposite Stoudt will be Jackson Wolf, set to make his fourth start of the year for El Paso. Wolf is still in search of his first win this year, entering tonight’s game with an 0-2 record and a 9.90 ERA. Through three starts, the southpaw has allowed 11 earned runs on 14 hits and nine walks, striking out seven batters in his 10.0 innings pitched.

FIRST TIME OUT: Eduard Bazardo made his first appearance of the 2024 season last night for Tacoma after starting the year on the Seattle Mariners 15-day injured list. The 28-year-old was placed on the IL back on March 28 with a right rotator cuff strain and is now working his way back to game action. Bazardo joined Tacoma’s roster on Major League rehab last night, and in his first outing of the year, spun a scoreless seventh inning. He allowed one hit while also striking out a batter, throwing eight of his 10 pitches for strikes.

SOUTHPAW TROUBLES: El Paso started the series opener with left-hander Ryan Carpenter on the mound last night and will follow that up with another left-handed starter in game two tonight. The Chihuahuas are scheduled to start four left-handed pitchers over the six-game series against Tacoma, with two righties in between. Despite hitting 40 points higher (.294 to .254) against left-handed pitching as a team, Tacoma is just 3-6 in games in which the opponent starts a left-handed pitcher, going 10-3 in games against a right-handed starter.

TURN IT AROUND: Tacoma lost their fifth straight game last night, marking the longest winning or losing streak of the season. Their last win came exactly a week ago, in an 8-4 victory over Las Vegas on April 17. After that game, the Rainiers were 13-4 with a two-game lead in the Pacific Coast League West division. Now, after five straight losses, they are second in the standings, at 13-9, two games back of the Sacramento River Cats. Two games out of first place is the furthest back Tacoma has been all season long.

JUST KEEP HITTING: Jason Vosler extended his hitting streak to a season-long 10 games with a single in the sixth inning last night. He also singled in the eighth inning, giving him his team-leading seventh multi-hit game of the year. After his 2-for-4 performance, Vosler is now hitting .303 in 20 games with Tacoma this year. Over his current 10-game hitting streak, the utility-man is hitting .390 (16-for-41) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and eight runs batted in. He has two or more hits in five of the 10 games, recording a season-high three hits on April 16 against the Aviators. The 30-year-old became the first Rainiers player to have a 10-game hitting streak this season, surpassing outfielder Jonatan Clase who had a hit in nine straight games before getting recalled by Seattle on April 15.

MAKING MOVES: Tacoma has made seven different roster moves over the last two days, largely related to their pitching staff. Abdiel Medina returned to the ACL Mariners and Chris Jefferson returned to the Everett AquaSox after their brief stints with Tacoma. Reliever Collin Snider, who was on Major League rehab, got activated by Seattle and optioned to Tacoma, so he is now part of the 28-man active roster for the Rainiers. Another pitcher joined Tacoma’s roster on Major League rehab, as Eduard Bazardo made his first appearance of the season last night. Catcher Matt Scheffler, who was born in Kirkland, was also added to the development list for the Rainiers. Tacoma has now made 33 transactions this year, and just eight of them have been involving a position player.

AGAINST EL PASO: The Rainiers and Chihuahuas will play game two of their six-game set tonight, with El Paso currently holding a 1-0 series lead after their 7-5-win last night. This six-game series will be the only time this year that El Paso comes to Cheney Stadium and the only time the two teams play each other in the first half. Tacoma makes their lone trip of the year to El Paso in late August. After last night’s loss, Tacoma holds just a one-game lead in the all-time standings against El Paso, having gone 64-63 entering play tonight.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma went 3-1 in COPA jerseys last year, wearing them for the first time in tonight’s contest…the Rainiers are now 0-4 in two-run games, losing each of their last two games by the same score, 7-5…Tacoma enters tonight’s game having gone 3-0 in Wednesday games, the only day they have not lost yet this season.