April 26 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. El Paso Chihuahuas

TACOMA RAINIERS (14-9) vs. EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (10-13)
Friday, April 26 • 6:05 PM (Game One) • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
GAME ONE: LHP Dallas Keuchel (2-1, 2.25) vs. RHP Nolan Watson (3-1, 4.57)
GAME TWO: RHP Michael Mariot (1-0, 4.50) vs. RHP Gabe Mosser (0-1, 189.00)

TONIGHT’S GAMES: With last night’s game getting postponed due to rain and inclement weather, Tacoma and El Paso are set to play a doubleheader tonight. Dallas Keuchel will get the ball for the Rainiers in game one, set to make his fourth start of the year. The southpaw is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA through his first three starts, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits including two home runs while walking two batters and striking out nine. In his 16.0 innings pitched, opponents are hitting just .179 against him. Opposite Keuchel will be Nolan Watson getting the start for the Chihuahuas. Watson is 3-1 with a 4.57 ERA through five starts this year, allowing 11 earned runs on 19 hits and six walks while striking out 22 batters over 21.2 innings pitched. The right-hander will face Tacoma for the first time in his career, not facing the Rainiers through his first 17 Triple-A games. Game two will see Michael Mariot square off against Gabe Mosser. Mariot is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in four starts for the Rainiers this season, allowing nine earned runs on 13 hits and five walks while striking out 12 in his 18.0 innings pitched. He has limited opponents to just a .197 batting average against him, throwing at least 4.0 innings in each of his first four starts. Mosser has made just one start for the Chihuahuas, and he will look to put it behind him in tonight’s contest. The righty allowed seven earned runs on five hits and three walks, recording just one out. He enters play tonight with an 0-1 record and a 189.00 ERA.

ONE MAN SHOW: Michael Chavis stayed hot for the Rainiers in Wednesday’s win, bringing in both of Tacoma’s runs. The infielder went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in, raising his batting average on the year to .308. Chavis has now hit safely in eight of his last nine games, recording two or more this in six of the eight contests. Over the nine-game stretch, the 28-year-old is hitting .417 (15-for-36) with 11 runs scored, two doubles, five home runs and 10 runs batted in. He has also taken three walks compared to seven strikeouts, bumping his on-base percentage up to .488. With seven of his 15 hits over the last nine games going for extra bases, Chavis is slugging .889 over that span.

GOT THE CALL: After nine seasons and 665 games played in the minor league, Leo Rivas finally got the call to the big leagues on Thursday. Seattle’s primary shortstop, J.P. Crawford was scratched from a start on Wednesday and later placed on the injured list with an oblique injury, so the Mariners selected the contract of Rivas. The infielder played in 18 games with Tacoma prior to getting his contract selected, hitting .308 (16-for-52) with two doubles and two home runs. He drove in 11 runs, stole five bases and took 11 walks compared to 13 strikeouts in his time with the Rainiers. When Rivas enters a game for the Mariners, he will be making his Major League debut at 26 years old.

REPEAT PERFORMANCE: Dallas Keuchel will get the start for Tacoma in game one of their doubleheader tonight, facing the Chihuahuas for the second time in his career. In his first game, back on August 19, 2022, as a member of the Round Rock Express, Keuchel was dominant. He spun seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out six. The veteran will look to repeat that outing tonight and get back in the win column after suffering a loss his last time out. In his last game, on April 18 at Las Vegas, the southpaw spun a season-high six innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits while striking out two. He got hurt by the long ball, as two of the five hits he allowed left the yard, bringing in all three runs he surrendered.

SAVE THE DAY: Brett de Geus was optioned to Tacoma from Seattle on Monday, and appeared in his first game back with the Rainiers in their 2-0 win on Wednesday. The right-hander threw a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced to close the game out. It gave de Geus his second save of the year for Tacoma, good for the team lead. His first save came back on March 31 against Oklahoma City.

SHUT THEM DOWN: After allowing seven runs in the opener on Tuesday, Tacoma used five pitchers to combine for their fourth shutout of the year in their 2-0 win over El Paso, Wednesday night. It started with Levi Stoudt, who tossed five scoreless innings, working around five hits and three walks to keep the Chihuahuas off the board. With the outing, Stoudt earned his second win of the year and lowered his ERA to 4.43. He was followed by Kirby Snead, Joey Krehbiel, Ty Buttrey and Brett de Geus, who each threw scoreless innings. The four relievers combined to allow three hits and one walk while striking out three.

LET’S PLAY TWO: With last night’s game getting postponed, Tacoma and El Paso will play games three and four of their six-game set tonight. Tacoma has played one doubleheader already this year, splitting the two games against the Salt Lake Bees. Dallas Keuchel also pitched game one of that double-dip, tossing five scoreless innings in a 6-1 Rainiers victory. For El Paso, this will be the first time they have played a doubleheader all year, as the Chihuahuas had gone 220 straight games without a postponement.

TRAFFIC ZONE: Although the Rainiers shut out El Paso in their last game Wednesday night, it wasn’t as dominant a performance as some shutouts are. The Chihuahuas recorded exactly one hit in each of the first eight innings, getting runners on in every inning aside from the ninth. Three of their eight hits went for doubles, adding four walks into the mix as well. El Paso went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men on-base. Tacoma’s pitching staff worked around traffic on the basepaths all night long, using a double play and six strikeouts to get out of trouble.

AGAINST EL PASO: Tacoma and El Paso are set to play games three and four of their six-game series tonight, with the series currently tied at one game apiece. With their victory on Wednesday night, the Rainiers grew their all-time series lead back to two over the Chihuahuas, at 65-63 entering play tonight. The four remaining games will be the last four between the two teams at Cheney Stadium this year and the last four of the first half. Tacoma will travel to El Paso in late August for a six-game set at Southwest University Park as the only other time the two teams play this year.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma had one error in their 2-0 victory on Wednesday night, moving to a perfect 5-0 when they have one error; the Rainiers are 6-6 with no errors, 2-2 with two errors and 1-1 with three or more…Tacoma’s bullpen enters play tonight with 99 strikeouts on the board, meaning the first strikeout recorded by a Rainiers’ reliever will be their 100th of the season…Tacoma has struck out 21 times in the first two games of the series with 11 in the opener and 10 more in Wednesday’s win…Jason Vosler extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his second inning single on Wednesday, marking the longest streak for any Rainiers player this season.