July 6 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers @ Salt Lake Bees

TACOMA RAINIERS (48-38) @ SALT LAKE BEES (37-48)
Saturday, July 6 • 5:35 PM PT • Smith’s Ballpark • Salt Lake City, UT
RHP Blas Castano (1-0, 1.50) vs. LHP Reid Detmers (2-2, 5.70)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Salt Lake will play the sixth and final game of their series tonight, with the Rainiers in search of the series win. Blas Castano will take the ball for Tacoma, set to make his second start of the series and overall for Tacoma. Back on Monday in the series opener against Salt Lake, Castano was lights out, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks while striking out five over 6.0 innings. He earned the win, entering play tonight with a 1-0 record and a 1.50 ERA with Tacoma. Opposite Castano will be Reid Detmers toeing the rubber for the Bees, set to make his first start of the series and sixth of the season for Salt Lake. The southpaw enters play tonight with a 2-2 record and a 5.70 ERA, allowing 19 earned runs on 32 hits and nine walks while striking out 41 batters in his 30.0 innings pitched. Detmers has gone at least 5.0 innings in all five of his starts, tossing quality starts in three of the five outings.

ONE SHY: Spencer Packard went 3-for-4 with a run scored, a home run and five runs driven in last night, bringing in half of Tacoma’s 10 runs as a team. The long ball was Packard’s second of the season and his Triple-A career, while his five RBI gave him nine on the season. Five runs batted in came one shy of tying Tacoma’s record for RBI in a single game this year, as Brian Anderson drove in six runs on May 23 against Las Vegas. Packard enters play tonight leading Tacoma in batting average, hitting .321 (17-for-53) over his first 14 games.

ROUNDING SECOND: Bryce Teodosio collected yet another triple last night, giving him nine on the year. He nine triples not only leads Salt Lake and the Pacific Coast League, but they are the most for any player in full-season Minor League Baseball. Teodosio has had an excellent first season in Triple-A, hitting .294 (70-for-238) with 14 doubles, nine triples, five home runs and 31 runs driven in through 68 games. He has been particularly good against Tacoma, hitting .375 (21-for-56) with four doubles, five triples, two home runs and 10 runs driven in in 16 games. Teodosio has played in 24% (16-of-68) of his games this season against Tacoma and in that span, has hit 56% (5-of-9) of his triples on the year, collected 33% (10-of-31) of his runs batted in and stolen 40% (6-of-15) of his bases.

RUN IT BACK: Back in the series opener on Monday, Blas Castano made just the third Triple-A appearance of his career and his first in the PCL. His first two Triple-A games came last year with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, allowing two hits and two hit batters while striking out three over 3.2 innings of relief. In his first Triple-A start, Castano spun a quality start, going 6.0 innings while allowing just one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out five. The right-hander has a chance to earn Tacoma the series victory tonight and will look to repeat his performance from Monday.

ANOTHER ONE: Tacoma got the victory against Jose Suarez last night, who allowed six runs (five earned) on five hits and a walk over his 3.0 innings pitched. For the Rainiers, it marked just their third win against a left-handed starter on the road this season and their 15th overall. They are now 3-8 when facing a left-hander on the road and 15-12 overall. Tacoma will get a chance to increase that record again tonight, matching up against the southpaw Reid Detmers in the finale.

STAY RELEVANT: After their win last night, Tacoma is now 5-6 in the second half of the season. They have blown three saves so far in the second half alone, changing their record from what would be the second-best at 8-3 to 5-6, where they are tied for second in the Pacific Coast League west division and tied for fourth overall. All PCL teams are currently chasing the Reno Aces, who, since losing their first game of the second half have rattled off 10 consecutive wins. The Aces are at the top of the standings with a 10-1 record and have already grown quite a lead at the top of the standings. If the Rainiers want to stay relevant in the second half for a playoff spot, they will need to keep winning and hope Reno cools down.

NOT HIS NIGHT: After going a perfect 3-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in on Thursday, Jake Slaughter had a night to forget last night. The infielder went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts, setting a career high for strikeouts in a single game. Prior to last night, he had struck out four times in a single game just three times in his career dating back to 2018. It also marked the most strikeouts in a single game for a Rainiers player this year, as Tacoma had a player strikeout four times in a game nine times this season, but never got their fifth.

AGAINST SALT LAKE: The Rainiers and Bees will play the sixth and final game of the series tonight, with Tacoma currently leading the series three games to two after last night’s win. The Rainiers are leading the season series by three games with the victory, at 10-7. They enter play tonight having gone 5-4 at home against the Bees and 5-3 here at Smith’s Ballpark. A victory tonight would give Tacoma their 400th win all-time against Salt Lake, as they enter play tonight with an all-time series record of 399-384-1.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma earned their 20th road win of the series last night and are now 20-23 on the road entering play tonight, going 27-13 at Cheney Stadium this season…last night was the 30th win for Tacoma’s starting pitchers this season, as Michael Mariot got his fifth of the year; starters are now 30-21 with a 4.47 ERA and relievers are 18-17 with a 5.28 ERA for the Rainiers…a win tonight would give Tacoma their 400th win all-time against Salt Lake, as they enter play tonight with an all-time series record of 399-384-1.