Rainiers End Losing Skid

EL PASO, TX – The Tacoma Rainiers (73-58) and El Paso Chihuahuas (51-80) split tonight’s games, with El Paso winning last night’s continued contest 7-5 and Tacoma taking tonight’s regularly scheduled game 6-4, Saturday at Southwest University Park.

El Paso jumped on starter Jhonathan Diaz, scoring five runs on four hits and two walks, knocking him out after recording just one out in the first inning. The game was suspended going into the bottom of the second inning and resumed play tonight.

The Chihuahuas got a sixth run on the board in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly from Tirso Ornelas. Tacoma got on the board in the fifth on a two-run home run from Jake Slaughter and an RBI single from Dominic Canzone.

Ornelas gave El Paso insurance in the eighth with an RBI single that became important. The Rainiers scored twice in the ninth to cut their deficit in half, but that is all they would score, dropping their season-high sixth game in a row by a final score of 7-5.

Samad Taylor started the scoring in today’s originally scheduled game with a leadoff home run, putting Tacoma ahead 1-0. A long ball from Seby Zavala in the second inning grew their lead to 3-0, but Eguy Rosario answered with a solo home run of his own in the home half of the inning.

It stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth, when Kevin Plawecki hit an RBI double to make it a one-run game. An RBI single from Jose Azocar in the sixth tied the game 3-3.

Entering the last scheduled inning, Taylor struck again, clubbing a three-run home run to put the Rainiers back in front. The Chihuahuas didn’t go away without a fight, as Cal Mitchell hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.

Chris Devenski worked around a walk and an error to close out the inning, securing a 6-4 win to end the longest losing streak of the year.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• Jhonathan Diaz suffered his third loss of the season in Friday’s game, allowing five earned runs on four hits and two walks in just 0.1 innings.
• El Paso stole nine bases in Friday’s game, the most allowed by Tacoma in a single game this year. Their previous high was five stolen bases allowed done twice, most recently on June 11 at Round Rock.
• Tonight’s win ended Tacoma’s longest losing streak of the season at six games. It marked their first win since Aug. 23 against Sacramento.

Tacoma and El Paso will play their series finale tomorrow morning, with first pitch from Southwest University Park scheduled for 11:05 am PT. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.milb.com/tacoma.