Wisely Walks it Off for Sacramento Against Tacoma

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento River Cats overcame a game-tying four runs by the Tacoma Rainiers in the top of the ninth thanks to the heroics of Brett Wisely, as his second homer of the night was a walk-off dinger that sent Sacramento home as winners in the series opener by a 6-4 final on Tuesday.

Through the first eight innings the River Cats (18-10) were cruising, tallying a run in their first set of swings behind an RBI double down the left-field line from Trenton Brooks. Scoring on the play was Luis Matos, who had singled to open the offense for the River Cats.

Sacramento added two more in the third in exciting fashion, hitting back-to-back home runs for the first time this season on consecutive pitches. First it was Casey Schmitt who hammered a ball out to left field that left the bat at 104.1 mph, his fifth of the season, while Brooks was next up with his second RBI of the night when he crushed a ball into the bullpens in right field. Even more, both two hit their homers on the first pitch of their respective at-bats.

Scoring was quiet until the home half of the seventh when Wisely walloped his third of the season, smashing a ball to deep right field with an exit velocity of 105.6 mph against Eduard Bazardo, who was pitching on a rehab assignment.

Then things got interesting in the top of the ninth, as the Rainiers were able to avoid the shutout by pushing across four runs that made it a new ballgame. Facing off against Juan Sanchez, a single, a double and a hit batsmen to each of the first three batters loaded the bases with nowhere to go. Sanchez was able to pickup a strikeout against the next hitter, but a walk right after forced a run home.

Continuing the rally, a Michael Papierski weak-contact single into right-center brough home another two, making the score 4-3. The River Cats turned to the bullpen and called in 2023 Triple-A wins leader Nick Avila (3-0), but a wild pitch allowed the tying run to score and seemingly force extra innings.

That was, until Wisely stepped back up to the plate with one on and two out in the bottom of the ninth. Sitting in a hitter’s count at 2-1, Wisely hooked a ball down the right-field line that just cleared the fence and landed in the Rainiers’ bullpen for his second walk-off homer of the season. Both walk-off wins for the River Cats this season have been from Wisely homers, similar to 2023 when two of Sacramento’s eight walk-off victories were on home runs from Heliot Ramos.

River Cats starter Tommy Romero was excellent through 5.0 innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out four batters in the process, but was ultimately rendered a no decision. Instead, it was Avila who continued to rack up wins in his Triple-A career, snatching his third of the season by working 0.2 innings and recording both of his outs via the strikeout. He has yet to allow a run or a hit in his four appearances (4.2 innings) in 2024, and he ran his career Triple-A record to a perfect 17-0.

Charged with the loss was Kirby Snead (1-2), who gave up both hits including the Wisely blast in the ninth.

For Wisely, he became the fourth River Cat this season to have a multi-homer game, the last of which came from Casey Schmitt on April 14 at home against El Paso. He ended his night 2-for-4 while scoring twice and driving in three. Meanwhile, both Brooks and Chase Pinder had three-hit nights, the first of the season for Pinder while Brooks was just a triple shy of the cycle.

These two teams will run it back when they line up for game two on Wednesday, with first pitch at Sutter Health Park scheduled for 12:05 p.m.