April 27 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. El Paso Chihuahuas

TACOMA RAINIERS (15-10) vs. EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (11-14)
Saturday, April 27 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Bryan Woo (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Daniel Camarena (0-1, 6.92)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and El Paso will play game five of their six-game series, with each team entering play with two wins. The Rainiers will send Bryan Woo to the mound, set to make his second start on Major League rehab. In his first outing on April 21, he spun three perfect innings, striking out five along the way. Opposite of Woo will be Daniel Camarena taking the ball for the Chihuahuas. Camarena is set to pitch in his sixth game and make his third start of the year tonight, entering the game with an 0-1 record and a 6.92 ERA. The southpaw has allowed 10 earned runs on 16 hits and two home runs, walking 11 batters while striking out 11 in his 13.0 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .327 against Camarena in his five games.

ONE-HIT WONDERS: Tacoma won game two of the doubleheader by a score of 3-2 last night, recording just one hit in the victory. El Paso’s starter, Gabe Mosser, spun four perfect innings, striking out six of the 12 batters he faced. As soon as he left the game, the Rainiers rallied, as Bobby Milacki walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth inning. Up next was Brian Anderson, who delivered a two-run double to tie the game. They scored again in the sixth, with a sacrifice fly from Anderson following two walks and a hit batter that loaded the bases. Since at least 2000, Tacoma has been held to one hit six times and lost the game, but have never been held to one hit and come out on top.

TWO-OUT DAMAGE: In El Paso’s game one victory over Tacoma last night, they did a lot of their scoring with two outs. In the first inning, Dallas Keuchel retired the first two batters he faced, then allowed three consecutive hits to give the Chihuahuas a two-run lead. They scored another two-out run in the second inning on a solo home run and again in the sixth with a two-out RBI single. In total, four of El Paso’s seven total runs came with two outs in the inning.

WORK THROUGH THE WEATHER: Trevor Kelley earned his first save of the season with a scoreless seventh inning last night, working around some misplays behind him. The right-hander got the first batter to hit an infield popup that was dropped by second baseman Ryan Bliss, fighting the swirling wind and rain. The next batter flew out to center field before another high popup just out beyond the infield dirt fell for a base hit. With runners on first and second and just one out, Kelley struck out Tim Locastro and got Clay Dungan to line out to end the game. The 31-year-old became just the third player on Tacoma’s active roster to record a save this year, as Joey Krehbiel has one and Brett de Geus has two.

BACK ON THE MOUND: Bryan Woo is set to make his second start for the Rainiers on Major League rehab tonight, as second career start at the Triple-A level. The right-hander started the season on the injured list with right medial elbow inflammation and was sent to Tacoma to begin his rehab assignment last week, on April 21. He spun three perfect innings in the outing, striking out five of the nine batters he faced, needing just 35 pitches to do so. Woo threw 25 of his 35 pitches for strikes in his first outing of the year, silencing the Las Vegas offense.

SNAPPED: Jason Vosler had his 12-game hitting streak snapped in game two of the doubleheader last night, going 0-for-1 with a walk and hit-by-pitch in his two other plate appearances. The utility-man hit .375 (18-for-48) with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and nine runs driven in over his 12-game streak from April 11-26. His 12-game streak was the longest for any Rainiers player this year and fell five games short of Cade Marlowe’s 17-game hitting streak from June 23 to July 18 last season.

DOUBLE UP: After going 2-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in in Wednesday’s win over El Paso, Michael Chavis was at it again in game one of the doubleheader last night. The infielder went 2-for-3 with two more runs batted in, giving him a team-leading eight multi-hit games this year. Chavis drew a walk but went hitless in his two at-bats in game two of the double-dip, giving him at least one hit in nine of his last 11 games. Over those nine games in which he has hit safely, he has recorded two or more hits seven times.

AGAINST EL PASO: Tacoma and El Paso will play game five of their six-game series tonight, with the series currently tied at two games apiece. After their doubleheader split last night, Tacoma leads the all-time series against the Chihuahuas by two games, at 66-64.

SHORT HOPS: With their doubleheader split and a loss from Sacramento, Tacoma stayed one game behind the River Cats, in second place in the Pacific Coast League West division standings…Kirby Snead earned his first win of the year with a scoreless sixth inning, moving to 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA this year for the Rainiers…Gabe Mosser lowered his ERA from 189.00 to 14.54 with four perfect innings in game two last night…three of Tacoma’s eight combined hits last night went for doubles…the Rainiers struck out 10 times in each game of the doubleheader last night, giving them 41 offensive strikeouts through the first four games of the series.