June 8 Game Notes: Tacoma Rainiers vs. Reno Aces

TACOMA RAINIERS (33-28) vs. RENO ACES (29-32)
Saturday, June 8 • 6:05 PM • Cheney Stadium • Tacoma, WA
RHP Levi Stoudt (3-4, 6.51) vs. RHP Cristian Mena (2-1, 4.43)

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Reno will play game five of their six-game set tomorrow, with the Rainiers going for the series win. Levi Stoudt will take the mound for Tacoma, set to make his 12th appearance and 11th start of the season. The 26-year-old will look to bounce back from his last outing, in which he tossed just 2.0 innings. Back on June 2 against Sacramento, Stoudt allowed four earned runs on two hits and four walks, striking out one batter over his 2.0 innings. Tonight will be his third start of the year against Reno, going 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA through the first two. Opposite Stoudt will be Cristian Mena set to make his 13th start of the year. Mena is the No. 11 ranked prospect in Arizona’s system according to MLB.com, going 2-1 with a 4.43 ERA in 12 starts. He has allowed 30 earned runs on 62 hits and 29 walks, striking out 63 over 61.0 innings pitched. He has made two starts against the Rainiers this year, going 0-0 with a 7.20 ERA, allowing eight earned runs on nine hits including three home runs. He has walked seven and struck out 10 in his 10.0 innings, allowing Tacoma to hit .237 against him.

BOUNCE BACK: Levi Stoudt gets the start for Tacoma tonight, looking to bounce back from his most recent outing, back on June 2 against Sacramento. The right-hander tossed a season-low 2.0 innings, allowing four earned runs on two hits and four walks, striking out one along the way. He has also struggled this season against the Aces, allowing nine earned runs on 12 hits and three walks in 9.0 innings. Over that span, he has struck out four, allowing Reno to hit .324 against him.

SHUT THEM DOWN: Emerson Hancock was dialed in last night, tossing six scoreless innings to earn his second career Triple-A win. The right-hander allowed just four hits while striking out five of the 22 batters he faced, throwing 52 of his 82 pitches for strikes. He shut down the top offense in Triple-A, as Reno leads all Triple-A teams with a .284 team batting average. They have 605 hits in 61 games, clubbing 136 doubles and 63 home runs, driving in 357 RBI. Through five starts this year, Hancock now has a 2-1 record and a 2.17 ERA, allowing seven earned runs on 21 hits and 10 walks. He has struck out 26 batters in his 29.0 innings pitched, limiting hitters to just a .193 RBI.

GETTING PRODUCTION: The bottom six hitters in Tacoma’s lineup collected all nine hits, as the top three combined to go 0-for-10. The top three batters in the lineup were still productive despite not recording a hit, scoring two runs, driving in two runs and taking four walks compared to two strikeouts. Jason Vosler paced the Rainiers with three hits, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two runs driven in. He and Samad Taylor were the only two players to record multi-hit games last night.

BACK IN THE GROOVE: After going 0-for-6 with four strikeouts in the opener, Jason Vosler has returned to form through the last couple of games. On Wednesday, Vosler went 2-for-5 with a run batted in and last night he led the way with three hits. He went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a double, a home run and two runs batted in. With the two multi-hit games this series, Vosler now has 20 on the season, leading the way for the Rainiers. He also leads the team in hits (60), doubles (11) home runs (10) and runs batted in (41). Through 56 games this year, Vosler is now hitting .287 (60-for-209) and has drawn 25 walks to raise his on-base percentage to .371.

ON THE BOARD: Tyler Locklear came through with his first Triple-A home run in the first inning last night, bringing Tacoma’s lead to 2-0. The first baseman is hitting .300 (12-for-40) in 10 games with the Rainiers, clubbing two doubles, a triple and now one home run. In those 10 games, he has driven in seven runs, taking six walks compared to 11 strikeouts. In 41 games with Double-A Arkansas prior to his promotion to Tacoma, Locklear hit .291 (46-for-158) with 12 doubles and eight home runs, driving in 26 runs. The 2022 second round pick is currently ranked as Seattle’s No. 8 prospect according to MLB.com and has made the transition through the system look easy so far, hitting .289 in 167 career minor league games.

AGAINST RENO: Tacoma and Reno will play game five of their current six-game series and game 17 of the season between the two teams. After getting back in the win column last night, Tacoma now leads the season series by four games, at 10-6. The home team has dominated the series so far, as the Rainiers are now 8-2 in 10 games here at Cheney Stadium, going 2-4 in their six-game series at Greater Nevada Field. Reno still holds the lead in the all-time series between the two teams, at 149-111.

SHORT HOPS: Both Matt Bowman and Jordan Holloway tossed perfect innings last night, combining to strikeout two batters over the final two innings of the game…despite not recording a hit, Jonatan Clase played his part in the win last night, reaching base with two walks and stealing two bases as well to score the first run of the game…Tacoma will go for their fifth series win at home this year and sixth series win overall; they are 4-1-0 in home series, going 5-1-4 overall this season.