Omaha Outslugs Rainiers
Last night, the Cheney Stadium faithful
got to see 20 runs, 28 hits, eight doubles and three home runs. Unfortunately,
most of those stats fell on the Omaha Royals’ side of the ledger, as they
downed the Rainiers 13-7.
The first inning of the slugfest followed
the same pattern as the first two games of the series: Omaha pulls out to an
early lead, only to see it evaporate in the bottom half of the first frame. The
Royals battered Tacoma lefty starter Chris Seddon for three runs on a single, a
double, three walks, a wild pitch and a balk. But Seddon’s offense picked him
right back up in the bottom half, plating a trio of its own.
With one out, second baseman Matt
Tuiasosopo drew a walk from Omaha ace Lenny DiNardo, and took second on a Mike
Carp single. Third baseman Chris Shelton then annihilated the third pitch he
saw from DiNardo to the base of the wall in center for a double, taking third
when Tim Raines, Jr., bobbled the ball twice off the wall. Shelton then came
home on a Bryan LaHair RBI single to left.
The Royals (52-72) began to pull away,
scoring single runs in the fourth and the fifth on a home run by Raines–his
second of the day–and a run-scoring double play by Kila Ka’aihue, but it was the
seventh inning that sealed the deal.
Third baseman Alex Gordon–just optioned
to Omaha from Kansas City–led off the frame with a ground ball single to
center, and was followed by two one-out walks to Ka’aihue and catcher J.R.
House by reliever Denny Stark. Rather than taking a few pitches from Stark,
designated hitter Brian Buchannan slugged Stark’s second offering just fair
down the left field line for a grand slam, putting the Royals up 10-3.
Omaha added three more runs in the eighth
on Raines’ second circuit shot of the night, a three-run, two-out shot to
right.
The Rainiers (61-65) came back in the
bottom of the inning to make things interesting though, with Tuiasosopo
crushing his 13th double of season to lead off the frame and taking third on a
fly out to center by Carp. A Shelton walk and a Bryan LaHair RBI double spelled
the end for DiNardo, who was lifted for reliever Carlos Rosa. Rosa promptly
gave up two straight RBI singles to Mike Wilson and Alex Cintron and then walked
to Adam Moore to load the bases.
Rosa was able to strike out shortstop
Oswaldo Navarro and force center fielder Jerry Owens to ground into a force out
to second to end the threat.
Notes: The Rainiers fell to 6.5 games back of first-place Colorado Springs in the race for the PCL Pacific North title as the Sky Sox doubled up Oklahoma City 6-3. Tacoma remained in second place, though, despite a 7-0 victory by third-place Salt Lake, which remains 7.5 games back.
Rainiers Rants 