April 28 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. El Paso Chihuahuas

TACOMA RAINIERS (16-10) vs. EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS (11-15)
Sunday, April 28 • 1:35 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (3-0, 1.29) vs. LHP Ryan Carpenter (0-1, 8.18)

TODAY’S GAME: Tacoma and El Paso will play the sixth and final game of their series today, with the Rainiers in search of their fourth series win of the season. They will hand the ball to Jhonathan Diaz, set to make his first appearance of the series, and first start since April 16 at Las Vegas. The southpaw came out of relief in his last outing a week ago, on April 21 against the Aviators. In that outing, he allowed a season-high three earned runs on five hits and a walk while striking out four over 4.0 innings. He is set to face the Chihuahuas for the fourth time of his career today. On the other side, Ryan Carpenter will make his second start of the series after getting the nod in the opener on Tuesday. In that game, Carpenter allowed three earned runs on three hits and three walks, striking out two batters over 2.2 innings pitched. He got taken out of the game in the third after throwing 67 pitches. In five starts this year, the lefty is 0-1 with an 8.18 ERA, allowing 20 earned runs on 29 hits and 10 walks while striking out 12 over 22.0 innings.

BACK AT IT: Jason Vosler had his 12-game hitting streak snapped in game two of the doubleheader Friday night, going 0-for-1 with a walk and a hit by pitch in his two other plate appearances. Despite the streak being over, Vosler got right back into the hit column and started a new streak last night, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, a double and two runs batted in. Vosler is now hitting .307 this year and has reached base in 16 consecutive games, since April 9.

TRENDING UP: Bryan Woo made his second appearance on Major League rehab for the Rainiers last night, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings. The right-hander struck out six batters including fanning the side in the second inning. He allowed just two hits, both doubles, tossing 31 of his 49 pitches for strikes to get through the outing. In two rehab appearances this year, Woo has covered 6.1 innings and has yet to allow a run. He has surrendered two hits while striking out 11 over that span.

DÉJÀ VU: After not playing in the doubleheader Friday night, Nick Solak got his turn in game five of the series against El Paso last night and made it count. For the seventh time of his career, Solak hit two home runs in the game, going deep in each of his first two at-bats. A solo home run in the second made it 3-0 and a three-run blast in the fifth grew Tacoma’s lead to 8-0. The last time Solak went deep twice prior to last night’s game was exactly three years ago, on April 27, 2021, as a member of the Texas Rangers against the Los Angeles Angels. Solak has played sparingly this season, appearing in exactly half (13-of-26) of Tacoma’s games this year. He has made his games count, as the 29-year-old is hitting .295 (13-for-44) with eight walks compared to 10 strikeouts. He has multiple hits in four of the 13 games, including a season-high three-hit game back on March 30 against Oklahoma City.

PROTECT THE HOME TURF: Today’s game will be the last time Tacoma plays at Cheney Stadium until Tuesday, May 14. The Rainiers are set to go on their longest road trip of the season after today’s game, going to Sacramento for a six-game series and then Reno for six more before returning home. Tacoma has a chance to win the series with a victory today, something they have done in each of their previous two homestands. They took two of three from Oklahoma City to start the season and most recently took five of six from Reno. They are 2-0 in home series entering play today and 1-1 on the road, losing their most recent series to Las Vegas four games to two. A win today would keep Tacoma a perfect 3-0 in home series and move their overall series record to 4-1.

BACK TO STARTING: Jhonathan Diaz will get back to his normal role as a starting pitcher in the series finale today, after coming out of relief in his last outing. Through his first four starts of the season, Diaz allowed just one earned run on a solo home run. He surrendered 17 total hits and just one walk while striking out 27 batters over 24.0 innings pitched. In his most recent outing, Diaz came out of the bullpen and allowed a season-high three earned runs on five hits, walking one while striking out four over his 4.0 innings. Diaz enters play today among Pacific Coast League leaders in ERA (1.29, 2nd), wins (3, T-2nd), strikeouts (31, T-3rd), innings pitched (28.0, 2nd), batting average against (.214, 3rd), WHIP (0.86, 1st) and winning percentage (1.000, T-1st).

STAY PERFECT: Joey Krehbiel delivered 1.2 perfect innings last night, earning his second win of the season. He followed starter Bryan Woo, who left the game with one out in the fourth inning and a runner on second. Krehbiel stranded the runner with a groundout and line out then came back out for the fifth, recording another groundout and two strikeouts to end his day. The right-hander moved to 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA this year, allowing three earned runs on five hits and three walks in 11.2 innings over nine games. He has struck out 10 batters and opponents are hitting just .125 against him over that span.

AGAINST EL PASO: Tacoma and El Paso will play game the sixth and final game of their series today, marking the last game between the two teams at Cheney Stadium this year. The Rainiers currently lead the series three games to two and also hold a three-game lead in the all-time series, at 67-64.

SHORT HOPS: Last night marked the first win on a Saturday all season for Tacoma, moving to 1-3 this year in Saturday games…the Rainiers are now 8-1 when they score first at home and 6-1 when they hit a home run at home in 2024…with the bullpen’s 5.2 innings last night, they have now thrown exactly 100.0 innings this year coming into today’s game.