April 4 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Salt Lake Bees

TACOMA RAINIERS (3-2) @ SALT LAKE BEES (2-3)
Thursday, April 4 • 5:35 PM PT • Smith’s Ballpark • Salt Lake City, UT
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Andrew Wantz (0-0, 4.91)

TONIGHT’S GAME: With the series even at one game apiece, Tacoma sends Jhonathan Diaz out for his second start of the year. In the season opener back on Friday, Diaz delivered five scoreless outings, allowing just three hits compared to five strikeouts. The southpaw didn’t earn a win, as the Rainiers didn’t score until the 11th inning. Opposite of Diaz will be Andrew Wantz taking the ball for Salt Lake, also making his second start of the season. On April 30 against Sacramento, the right-hander tossed 3.2 innings of two-run ball. He surrendered five hits while walking two batters compared to striking out four. He tossed 82 total pitches, throwing 51 of those for strikes.

ALL AROUND PRODUCTION: Often times in baseball, the box score doesn’t tell the whole story. That is exactly what happened with Cade Marlowe in last night’s game, as he went 1-for-3 with two runs batted in. The two outs Marlowe made were very productive ones, as he hit sacrifice flies to drive in insurance runs for the Rainiers. His single in the first inning also extended his hitting streak to a team-high four games, with hits in each game aside from the season opener. After that single, he put immediate pressure on the pitcher and defense by stealing second base, good for his fourth steal of the young season. After last night’s game, the outfielder now leads the team in games played (5), hits (5), runs batted in (4) and stolen bases (4). His four stolen bases are also tied for first among all Pacific Coast League players.

HIS SECOND HOME: Jhonathan Diaz will make his second start of the season for Tacoma tonight on a very familiar mound. The southpaw makes his return to Salt Lake City, where he pitched in 51 games for the Bees over the last three seasons. Diaz made 21 starts for Salt Lake over those three years, covering 149.1 innings. He went 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA, allowing 77 earned runs on 141 hits and 71 walks compared to 139 strikeouts with the Bees. In his most recent outing with Tacoma, Diaz was excellent, tossing five scoreless innings. He didn’t walk a single batter but hit three, striking out five and allowing three hits.

SHOWING PATIENCE: After a hit and two walks in the series opener on Tuesday, Willie Calhoun walked two more times last night. The three-hitter is hitting just .077 on the year, but still has a .368 on-base percentage through the first five games because of his patience at the plate. He is tied for first in the Pacific Coast League with six walks, including four over his last two games.

HEATING UP: Jason Vosler went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a double and an RBI last night, notching his first multi-hit game of the season. The utility-man is now hitting .200 for Tacoma this year, having gone 3-for-15 through his first four games. Vosler is a career .265 hitter over parts of six seasons in Triple-A.

SLOW HIM DOWN: Bryce Teodosio has torn apart Tacoma pitching through two games this series, hitting .625 (5-for-8). The nine-hole hitter went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in game one on Tuesday and followed that up with a 3-for-4 performance in last night’s contest. Two of his three hits went for triples last night, giving him three on the year. The outfielder is hitting .412 (7-for-17) with three triples and one RBI in his first five games for the Bees.

AGAINST SALT LAKE: Tacoma and Salt Lake are set to play game three of their six-game series tonight, with the series currently tied at one game apiece. The Rainiers’ win last night snapped a four-game losing streak to the Bees dating back to last season. It grew the Rainiers all-time series lead to 22 games, at 390-378-1 and brought them within 17 (217-234) games of the .500 mark all-time since the Rainiers moniker started in 1995.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma is 3-0 when Isiah Gilliam plays as the designated hitter and 0-2 when he is not…last night was Jordan Holloway’s first win since June 15 last season against Indianapolis…the Rainiers out-hit Salt Lake 6-5 last night, marking the first game all season in which Tacoma has out-hit their opponents.