Rawhide Rout 66ers Behind Offensive Barrage

Visalia, CA – The Visalia Rawhide (3-8) totaled 20 hits including eight doubles in a 14-2 beatdown of the Inland Empire 66ers (3-7) on Wednesday night at Valley Strong Ballpark.

Carlos Virahonda and Ivan Luciano led the Rawhide’s big night with four hits apiece while Kayson Cunningham added three hits.

Cunningham opened the scoring in the second inning with a two out RBI single. Visalia added three more runs with two outs in the third inning. Luciano delivered an RBI single and Abdias De La Cruz later followed with a two RBI double.

Virahonda added to the lead in the fourth with a two run homer off the scoreboard in left field and Luciano topped off another big inning with an RBI double.

Visalia added another two runs in the fifth courtesy of a Cunningham RBI single and a JD Dix RBI double.

Another run scored on a balk in the sixth and the Rawhide finished their offensive outburst with four runs in the seventh. Virahonda drove in a run with an RBI single, Pedro Catuy hit a two RBI double and the final run scored on a Luciano hit and resulting error.

Virahonda scored three times and drove in three runs while Luciano scored twice and drove in two runs. Jose Mejia and Pedro Blanco added two hit nights for Visalia.

Visalia’s starter Jesus Escobar twirled a near flawless four inning start with just one baserunner added and two strikeouts. Raul Garayzar earned his second win of the season tossing 2.1 innings with four strikeouts.

Tayler Montiel pitched a perfect 1.2 innings and Auggie Mojica made his Valley Strong Ballpark debut with an in-order ninth inning.

Mejia extended his hit streak to start the season to 10 games- the longest active streak in all of Single-A. Cunningham’s on-base streak also reached 10 games. The 2025 1st round draft pick holds a .400 BA and .533 OBP through his first 10 games of the year.

Game three of the series between Visalia and Inland Empire is scheduled for a 6:35 PM first pitch at Valley Strong Ballpark on Thursday.

Thursday's Rawhide game is dedicated to the memory of Deputy Randy Hoppert. 100% of ticket proceeds for the game will go to benefit his family. The Visalia Rawhide will also match the fundraising efforts. Other fundraising efforts will take place throughout the game. Fans can also donate to the family through this official link.

Rawhide tickets are available through the team’s website and at the stadium box office sponsored by Kaweah Health starting at 10 AM on weekday gamedays.

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The Visalia Rawhide are the Single-A Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks playing professional baseball in the Central Valley since 1946. The Rawhide's 2026 theme is "Savor the Season" as the team transforms into the Central Valley Sir Loins on Saturday gamedays.   

Stay up to date with the Rawhide on the team’s website and by following the Rawhide on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and X. The Rawhide play all home games at Valley Strong Ballpark located at 300 N Giddings Street Visalia, CA 93291.

Fans can purchase season ticket packages, group ticket plans, single game tickets and team merchandise through the Rawhide website and at the stadium ticket office sponsored by Kaweah Health. All Rawhide games can be watched on MLB.TV and the Bally Sports Live App with a free radio broadcast also available online. Select home games will be aired on KNXT MyTV53. For more information, visit milb.com/visalia, email [email protected] or call (559) 732-4433.