June 5 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Reno Aces

TACOMA RAINIERS (31-27) vs. RENO ACES (28-30)
Wednesday, June 5 • 5:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
LHP Jhonathan Diaz (7-1, 2.98) vs. RHP Humberto Castellanos (4-1, 4.57)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Reno will play game two of their six-game set tonight, with the Rainiers leading 1-0 after yesterday’s big win. Tacoma will send Jhonathan Diaz to the mound, looking for his eighth win of the year and third against Reno. Diaz comes into play tonight with a 7-1 record and 2.98 ERA through 11 games (10 starts) this year, allowing 21 earned runs on 58 hits and 11 walks. He has struck out 65 batters over his 63.1 innings pitched, limiting opponents to a .244 batting average against him. Opposite Diaz will be Humberto Castellanos getting the start for Reno. Castellanos is 4-1 with a 4.57 ERA through 10 games (nine starts) this year for Reno, allowing 22 earned runs on 37 hits including 10 home runs. He has walked 21 batters compared to 45 strikeouts in 43.1 innings for the Aces, set to make his third start of the year against Tacoma. Through his first two starts against the Rainiers this season, the right-hander is 1-1 with a 9.45 ERA, allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits and four walks while striking out five over 6.2 innings. He suffered the loss his first time out on April 12, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks over 1.2 innings, but came back to win his outing on May 11, tossing five innings of four-run ball.

ON THE BOARD: Jake Slaughter clubbed his first home run for Tacoma in yesterday’s 15-6 win, the lone deep fly for the Rainiers. It was a two-run shot in the seventh inning, padding the Rainiers’ already large lead. Slaughter now has six home runs on the year, hitting five in 32 games with Iowa prior to being acquired by Seattle. The infielder is hitting .284 with 12 doubles, six home runs and 26 runs batted in on the season, hitting .262 with six doubles and one home run in 17 games for Tacoma.

ANOTHER MULTI-HITTER: Outfielder Nick Solak is no stranger to multi-hit games. Despite only playing in twenty-nine games this season, Solak has recorded seven multi-hit games in 2024, three of which occurred against Reno. With the second highest average of Tacoma’s active roster, Solak is batting .304 with 28 hits on the season. Going 3-for-4 in yesterday’s contest, Solak singled in the second, doubled in the sixth, and singled again in the seventh.

BREAKING RECORDS: Last night’s game marked the fourth four-double game of the season for the Rainiers, the most recent since May 18 against Salt Lake. Tyler Locklear recorded his first double as a Rainiers’ hitter in the fifth inning, along with doubles from Nick Solak, Leo Rivas, and Luis Urias. In addition to these doubles, Tacoma’s season total of times batted around also increased to six over 2024, after batting around in both the sixth and seventh innings against Reno yesterday.

QUALITY START: Despite struggling with his first couple batters, Dallas Keuchel was able to pull off the win and record himself a quality start. Allowing just three earned runs over 6.0 innings, Keuchel walked just two and struck out four Aces. With yesterday’s win, Keuchel improved his season record to 5-4, and lowered his ERA to 5.00. He is now among league leaders in ERA (5.00, 6th), wins (5, T-3rd), batting average against (.272, 6th) and WHIP (1.31, 4th).

DIAZ ON THE MOUND: Left hander Jhonathan Diaz has yet to disappoint with his performance on the mound this season. With a season record of 7-1, Diaz continues to lead Triple-A pitchers through 63.1 innings. In his last outing against Reno, Diaz gave up a career-high 12 hits through his 6.0 innings pitched. Allowing just four earned runs, Diaz was still able to record himself the win back on May 10 in Reno, and he will look to add another win to his record and improve his record against the Aces.

AGAINST RENO: Tacoma and Reno will play game two of their current six-game series and game 14 of the season between the two teams. With Tacoma’s win yesterday, the home team is now 10-3 in the series, as Tacoma is 6-1 through seven home games and 2-4 in their six games at Greater Nevada Field. The Rainiers are leading the season series 8-5 but trail the all-time series by 39 games, at 109-148.

SHORT HOPS: Tacoma relief pitchers have recorded 200 strikeouts in their 200.2 innings pitched after yesterday’s three punchouts…the Rainiers are 19-9 at home this season, going for their 20th home win and 32nd win overall tonight…Tacoma is now 8-0 when scoring 10 or more runs after winning 15-6 last night…the Rainiers enter play tonight 4-0 in home Wednesday games, going 7-2 overall on Wednesday’s this year…Michael Perez is still in search of his first hit with Tacoma this year, going 0-for-7 with three strikeouts through his first two games since being acquired by Seattle.