April 9 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Reno Aces

TACOMA RAINIERS (6-3) vs. RENO ACES (5-3)
Tuesday, April 9 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Michael Mariot (0-0, 4.50) vs. RHP Slade Cecconi (1-1, 6.00)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Reno begin their six-game series at Cheney Stadium tonight, with Michael Mariot taking the ball for the Rainiers. Mariot made his organizational debut in his last start on Wednesday at Salt Lake, tossing 4.0 innings of two-run ball. The right-hander allowed two hits and three walks while striking out five, throwing 34 of his 54 pitches for strikes. Mariot enters tonight having faced Reno six times in his career, all relief appearances. In those six games, he holds a 5.20 ERA (5ER/8.2IP), allowing eight hits and three walks while striking out 10. Opposite of Mariot will be Slade Cecconi toeing the rubber for the Aces. Cecconi comes into tonight’s game with a 1-1 record and a 6.00 ERA, allowing six earned runs on nine hits including two home runs, three walks and 10 strikeouts. According to MLB.com, the 24-year-old righty is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ No. 18 ranked prospect.

ROSTER ROTATION: Tacoma had a flurry of roster moves prior to tonight’s game, as they lost four players and gained three. Seattle announced yesterday that they were selecting the contracts of pitchers Brett de Geus and Tyson Miller, replacing two injured relievers. They also announced that reliever Ty Adcock had been designated for assignment and infielder Samad Taylor had been optioned back to Tacoma. Today, outfielder Curtis Washington Jr. was sent back to Modesto and pitchers Nick Davila and Chris Jefferson joined the team from Everett.

KEEP IT ROLLING: Tacoma has gotten great efforts from their starting pitchers over the last four games, starting with Jhonathan Diaz Thursday night. The southpaw spun a six-inning shutout, allowing just six hits while striking out 10, earning the first win for a Rainiers’ starter in 2024. Levi Stoudt followed that up Friday night with 5.1 scoreless innings of his own, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out seven. In Sunday’s doubleheader, Dallas Keuchel tossed 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing three hits while also striking out three and Casey Lawrence threw 6.1 innings of two-run ball. The four starters combined to go 3-1 with a 0.79 ERA (2ER/22.2IP), allowing 19 hits and just two walks while striking out 22. Prior to Salt Lake scoring a run in the fourth inning in game two on Sunday, Tacoma’s starters had combined to throw 23.1 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to Wednesday, April 3.

LEADING THE WAY: Michael Papierski enters the series leading Tacoma in many different hitting categories, including batting average (.368), hits (7), home runs (2) and runs batted in (8). He also leads the team with three multi-hit games, going 2-for-4 in each of his last three contests. Not only is he getting it done offensively, he is also accelerating behind the dish. Tacoma is a perfect 5-0 when Papierski starts at catcher, and pitchers have a 2.20 ERA when throwing to him.

HARDEST THREE OUTS: It is often said that the last three outs of a game prove to be the most difficult outs to record, and that has been true this year for the Rainiers. Including their two games on Sunday, Tacoma has now allowed at least one run to score in the final inning in each of their last six games that their opponent has had an at-bat. It started back on Sunday of opening weekend in the series finale against Oklahoma City, when Tacoma entered the ninth inning with a three-run lead. The Baseball Club knocked in two runs, making it a one-run game before Tacoma closed it out. In game one of their last series against Salt Lake, the Bees didn’t have a ninth inning at-bat because they were in the lead, but on Wednesday, trailing by four, the Bees pushed a run across before the Rainiers closed it out. After scoring three runs of their own in the ninth on Thursday to make it a five-run game, Tacoma allowed the Bees to score two runs in the bottom of the inning before recording the final out. On both Friday and game one on Sunday, Tacoma was working on a 6-0 shutout and allowed a run to score in the final frame, winning by five. In game two’s loss, they were tied 1-1 in the seventh and allowed the winning run to score in walk-off fashion. Tacoma in 5-1 in these six games, but have now allowed eight runs to score in the final inning of those contests. Those eight runs (2 in 7th, 6 in 9th) account for 24% of the 34 runs Tacoma has allowed all season.

BACK AT THE TOP: After missing three games with a jammed finger, Jonatan Clase returned to the top of Tacoma’s lineup and started right where he left off. Clase went 1-for-4 with a double and a run batted in in Tacoma’s 6-1 win in game one and went 1-for-3 in their 2-1 loss in game two. Clase has led off in all six games he has started and is now hitting .286 (6-for-21) with three runs scored, two doubles, two RBI and as many walks as strikeouts, with three in each category.

AGAINST RENO: The two top teams in the PCL West will play for the first of six games tonight, with Tacoma having won four of their last five games and Reno entering the series on a three-game winning streak. Tacoma went 13-11 in 24 games against the Aces last year, including a 6-6 record at Cheney Stadium. They trail the all-time series by 42 games, at 101-143.

SHORT HOPS: Game two of the doubleheader ended Tacoma’s four-game winning streak and was their first one-run loss as well as their first loss of the season when hitting a home run…Tacoma has won each of their first two series, taking 2-of-3 from Oklahoma City and 4-of-6 from Salt Lake…the Rainiers have the second-best ERA as a team (3.61) behind only Oklahoma City, while recording the least amount of strikeouts (72)…Jason Vosler (5) and Leo Rivas (4) each lost their hitting streaks in game two of Sunday’s doubleheader…Cade Marlowe has had six multi-strikeout games, leading the team with 18 strikeouts on the season, accounting for 22% (18-of-81) of the team’s strikeouts…the Rainiers recorded a season-high three doubles and 12 hits in game one of the doubleheader on Sunday.