Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes at Oklahoma City
April 18, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Tacoma Rainiers News Release
TODAY'S GAME - 4/18 at Oklahoma City
FIRST PITCH - 4:05 PM (PT) at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City, OK
PITCHING MATCHUP - Tacoma RHP Blas Castano (2-0, 1.76) vs. Oklahoma City RHP Matt Sauer (1-0, 1.13)
BROADCAST - TV: Bally Live App/MiLB.TV RADIO - KIXI 880 AM
Today's game notes and starting lineups are attached.
THE RAINIERS: Scored their second win of the series, taking a 5-4 victory over Oklahoma City...after falling behind 1-0 in the third, Spencer Packard ripped a double to center field, scoring Tyler Locklear and Austin Shenton to give Tacoma the 2-1 lead...the Rainiers added to their lead in the fifth, courtesy of a Samad Taylor RBI single, plating Rhylan Thomas, making it 3-1...the Comets tied the game in the sixth, plating a pair as the first three batters of the inning collected a hit...Packard drove in his third run of the game in the eighth with an RBI single, his second hit of the game, giving Tacoma a 4-3 lead...Oklahoma City tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a Kody Hoese solo home run...with one out in the top of ninth inning, Cole Young singled and Harry Ford walked, setting up Locklear for an RBI single up the middle to give the Rainiers the 5-4 lead...in the bottom of the ninth, Drew Pomeranz sat down the side in order to pick up his second save of the season.
PACKING A PUNCH: Following his 2-for-5 performance on Thursday, OF Spencer Packard is riding a five-game hit streak...in that span, he his hitting .450 (9x20) with a double, driving in four runs...Packard opened the season hitting .179 (5x28) in his first eight games, with multiple hits in two of his first three games before going on an 0-for-17 skid from April 3-11...over the five-game streak, Packard has been an equal opportunity hitter, going hitting .429 (6x14) against left-handed pitchers and .500 (3x6) against right-handers.
BLAS IS NOW IN SESSION: RHP Blas Castano will make his second start of the season tonight, having worked in a long relief role in three of his four outings this season...Castano ranks third in the PCL in ERA (1.76), opponent batting average (.180) and WHIP (0.98)...Castano has also kept the ball on the ground this season, ranking second in the PCL, among qualified pitchers) in groundball/flyball ratio at 3.83 (per FanGraphs)...he also ranks second in opposing batting average on balls in play (BABIP) at .214.
NO FREE PASSES: Rainiers pitchers have walked just eight batters in the last four games, striking out 36 in that span...Tacoma starters have issued just 21 free passes in 18 games this year, the fewest among PCL starters and two short of the fewest allowed in Triple-A...the 21 walks issued by the Rainiers' starters are tied for the second-fewest through the team's first 18 games since 2005, just one shy of the 20 walks the 2017 Rainiers' starters issued through 18 games...the 21 walks by starters are also tied for the sixth-fewest for any PCL team through 18 games since 2005.
RHYLAN'S ROLLING: In his last six games, OF Rhylan Thomas has hit .500 (11x22) with a home run, four RBI and six runs scored...his current six-game hitting streak is tied with Ben Williamson for the longest by a Rainier this season...Thomas is also hitting .476 (10x21) when leading off an inning...his 10 hits when leading off the inning are the most by any minor league hitter this season...the only Major League players with more hits ot lead off an inning are Lawrence Butler (ATH -11), Francisco Lindor (NYM - 12) and Xavier Edwards (MIA - 13)...Thomas has also only struck out once this season, tied for the fewest by any qualified hitter in minor league baseball in 2025.
REHAB RUNDOWN: RHP Matt Brash was sent to Tacoma to begin a Major League Rehab assignment on Sunday...Brash missed the entire 2024 season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery...he was placed on the Mariners 15-Day injured list on March 27 (retro March 24)...Brash has made two appearances with Tacoma, last throwing on Thursday, allowing a hit and striking out one in a scoreless inning...in his two appearances, he has allowed two hits and struck out two without allowing a run in 2.0 innings.
FOREVER YOUNG ON BASE: INF Cole Young has reached base in each of the last 14 games, a the longest streak for the Rainiers in the early stages of 2025...in that span, Young is hitting .259 (14x54) with three doubles, one triple and four RBI, walking seven times...Young is also seeing 3.975 pitches per plate appearance, the most of any qualified Rainier hitter.
MARINERS UPDATE: The Mariners and Reds went back-and-forth in Cincinnati but it was Seattle taking the 11-7 victory in 10 innings...the Mariners trailed 7-5 entering the ninth inning, but Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena clubbed back-to-back home runs to tie the game...the Mariners scored four more times in the 10th inning, allowing Andres Muñoz to shut it down in the bottom of the inning to give the Mariners an 11-7 victory.
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