Tagged: Andy Baldwin
PREVIEW: Pennant Race Beckons Rainiers
With just 25 games left in the regular season, the Tacoma
Rainiers find themselves right in the thick of one final sprint for the Pacific
Coast League Pacific Northern Division crown.
After a huge 6-2 road trip against the Round Rock Express
and the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Tacoma Nine return to Cheney Stadium tonight
to kick off an eight-game homestand against the Iowa Cubs (60-58) and the Omaha
Royals (48-69), who have a combined .460 winning percentage on the year.
The last time the I-Cubs paid a visit June 2-5, 2007, they
took three of four from Tacoma. But the past is merely prologue, as only Bryan
LaHair, Oswaldo Navarro and Iowa’s Micah Hoffpauir remain from those teams.
The Rainiers come into tonight winners of a league-best
seven of their last 10, averaging 5.8 runs per game over that stretch–nearly
half a run more than their season average–and sit just 4.5 games behind the
sinking first-place Colorado Springs Sky Sox and one game behind the
second-place Salt Lake Bees. Both of the top two teams are just 5-5 in their
last 10 games, and are struggling down the stretch.
In contrast, Tacoma finds itself armed with a resurgent
starting rotation featuring PCL Pitcher of the Week Andy Baldwin, the stifling
southpaw Chris Seddon (2-1, 2.74 ERA since the All-Star Break) and tomorrow’s
starter Brandon Morrow, who has gone 1-0 in his last two starts with a 2.08 ERA
over 13 innings.
At the dish, the Rainiers have re-acquired the services of
slugging cornerman Chris Shelton, outrighted back to Tacoma from Seattle on
August 5. Wearing a Tacoma uniform this season, the redhead from Salt Lake City
has hit .315 with 24 doubles, 12 homers and 66 RBI.
Along with Shelton, Tacoma has also benefitted from the
return of third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo from midseason elbow surgery. Since his
return to the lineup on July 16, Tui is hitting .296 (29-for-98) with five home
runs, eight doubles, 22 RBI and a slugging percentage of .531.
But it hasn’t been all new faces for the Rainiers. Big Brad
Nelson has been a cornerstone of the Tacoma lineup since the All-Star Break,
hitting .292 (19-for-65) with 13 runs, three doubles, six home runs, a triple,
10 RBI and 10 walks to just 13 strikeouts. But thunder like Nelly’s needs its
lightning, and for the past month an a half, center fielder Jerry Owens has
been pure electricity at the top of the lineup. In July and August, the
speedster from Hollywood, Calif. has gone 51-for-129 (.395) with 29 runs, three
doubles, six triples, two home runs, 17 RBI, six stolen bases and an on-base
percentage of .451.
Be sure to stay after the game tomorrow night for our
traditional Friday Night Fireworks, brought to you by Charles River Clinical.
Remember that Saturday is our Little Caesars Family Meal
Deal, where with your purchase of four special tickets, you get four limited
edition Rainiers ballcaps, four slices of pizza at Cheney Stadium, two youth
passes to Point Defiance Zoo or Northwest Trek Wildlife Park and vouchers for
two large Hot-N-Ready Pizzas and two orders of Crazy Bread.
LEAGUE LEADER ALERT: LaHair Continues Breakout Season
Tacoma Rainiers left fielder/first baseman Bryan LaHair is among the Pacific Coast League leaders in four offensive categories going into tomorrow’s series opener against the Iowa Cubs.
Tacoma Rainiers Game Notes: August 10 @ Albuquerque
Game Notes:
River Cats Out-Slug Rainiers
While Wednesday’s game between the Sacramento River Cats (61-37)
and the Tacoma Rainiers (46-52) was decidedly about pitching, tonight it was
the lumber that did the talking.
The two squads combined to pound out 24 hits–nine of them
for extra bases–but it was the visiting River Cats who came out on top, taking
the series finale 11-6.
While Tacoma starter Gaby Hernandez gave up six runs in his four
innings of work, it wasn’t until the seventh inning that Sacramento was able to
truly pull away, as the Rainiers responded to every Sacramento score with a
flurry of their own.
Down 3-0 going into the bottom of the first, first baseman Jeff Clement wasted no time in extending his latest hitting streak to seven
games, blasting his 14th home run of the season over the right field
wall to cut the deficit to two runs.
After a walk to right fielder Bryan LaHair to lead off the
bottom of the second, left fielder Michael Saunders stretched his own hitting
streak to seven games with his 14th double of the season, putting
men on second and third for catcher Adam Moore.
Moore singled in LaHair, and after an Oswaldo Navarro
strikeout, center fielder Jerry Owens delivered his second sacrifice fly in as
many nights to make the score 4-3.
The River Cats pulled ahead again in the top of the third
with a pair of runs, but Tacoma slowly chipped away over the next three
innings, with LaHair’s 18th longball of the year in the bottom of
the sixth keeping Tacoma close, down 7-5.
The decisive blow came in the top of the seventh, when Andy
Baldwin–making his third relief appearance of the season–stumbled after
striking out left fielder Aaron Cunningham to lead off the frame.
Baldwin gave up a sharp groundball single to right fielder
Travis Buck, and then couldn’t manage to find the strike zone, walking catcher
Eric Munson and center fielder Chris Denorfia, uncorking a wild pitch along the
way to allow a run to score.
With the bases loaded, designated hitter Matt Carson–who
showed off his pitching arm in the previous night’s loss–decided to make a
difference through more conventional means: his bat. Carson unloaded on
Baldwin’s 2-2 offering, hitting the LED ribbon over the left center field wall
for his first grand slam of the season.
Offensive bright spots for the Rainiers included third
baseman Matt Tuiasosopo, who went 2-for-4 to finish the series 6-for-13 with
three doubles. Owens–despite having his hitting streak halted at nine
games–still led the team with two RBI on the evening.
51s Thwart Tacoma Comeback
Despite a dramatic comeback and Matt
Tuiasosopo’s first home run of the season, the Tacoma Rainiers (45-49) were
unable to best the Las Vegas 51s last night, and wilted 5-4 in the 96-degree
desert heat.
Tuiasosopo, in his fourth game back from
elbow surgery rehab, delivered his first longball of the season with one out in
the top of the first, a soaring drive to left field to put the Rainiers up 1-0.
Starter Brandon Morrow got off to a rocky
start in his first minor league start of 2009, loading the bases with one out
in the bottom of the frame.
Morrow issued a leadoff walk to Buck
Coats, hitting slugging designated hitter Randy Ruiz with one out and then
walking left fielder Travis Snider. First baseman Brian Dopirak then got the
run factory started, cracking an RBI single to tie the game.
Right fielder Aaron Mathews then rapped a
two-run single on a grounder through the left side of the infield to put the
51s ahead. The biggest blow came off the bat of catcher Kyle Phillips, who
blasted a two-run line-drive double off of the glove of Tuiasosopo at third and
into left field.
But Morrow was able to settle down over
the next three innings, allowing Tacoma time to claw back into the game. The
Rainiers came out with guns blazing in the top of the fourth inning, with first
baseman Mike Carp and catcher Jamie Burke leading off with back-to-back
singles. A Bryan LaHair line-drive double to center plated Carp and moved Burke
to third.
Still with no outs, center fielder
Michael Saunders singled on a groundball up the middle to score Burke and put
LaHair at third. After the hot-hitting Callix Crabbe popped out to shortstop
Joe Inglett for the first out, his double-play partner–Oswaldo Navarro–made the
next out a productive one, lofting a sacrifice fly to left to bring LaHair in
with the tying run.
Las Vegas (45-50) came back in the
bottom of the fifth, capitalizing on a one-out walk to Snider when third
baseman Kevin Howard lined his 17th double of the season into left, putting the
finishing touches on the win and taking their third of four games from Tacoma.
Notes: Callix Crabbe went 1-for-4 on the night and is now hitting .320 in
the month of July … Bryan LaHair’s 2-for-4 night lifted his average to .286, and .308
over his last 10 games … After Brandon Morrow exited, Andy Baldwin came in and worked 3.1 innings of scoreless relief–his second appearance out of the bullpen this year.
Beavs Break Through in Opener
Over their past 14 games against the
Portland Beavers coming into last night, the Tacoma Rainiers had made it a
practice of beating up on their southern rivals, winning 12 of those meetings
and outscoring Portland by a margin of 50 runs. But tonight, the 15th time
proved the charm for the Beavers, who won their second in a row against the
Rainiers for the first time since last season with a 7-1 victory at Cheney
Stadium.
Portland (42-45) scored five runs and
rattled eight hits off of Tacoma starter Andy Baldwin, who seemed to have
trouble keeping his fastball down in the strike zone, giving up two home runs
and two doubles over his six innings of work.
The first of the Beavers’ two
roundtrippers came in the top of the first. With two outs, Baldwin gave up an
0-2 line-drive single to third baseman Peter Ciofrone to bring slugger
Valentino Pascucci to the dish. Portland’s cleanup hitter promptly deposited
the third pitch he saw from Baldwin off the top of the right field wall to put
the Beavers ahead 2-0.
Yuniesky Betancourt–on a rehab
assignment from the Mariners–returned to Cheney Stadium for the first time
since 2005, and made an immediate impact in the top of the first. After a
leadoff triple by Jerry Owens–his second three-bagger in two days–Betancourt delivered
a booming double off former Rainiers teammate Cha Seung Baek to drive in Owens.
Baldwin held things together over the
next two frames, but the longball came back to haunt him in the fourth. Center
fielder Drew Macias led off the inning with his third circuit shot of the
season to touch off a four-hit, three-run inning for the Beavers.
Not even the Tacoma bullpen was immune.
After lefty Cesar Jimenez tossed a 1-2-3 seventh, Portland tacked on two more
runs off of reliever Jesus Delgado in the top of the eighth. Delgado was one
strike away from ending the inning, going up 0-2 on Macias with two down.
Delgado’s next pitch ran inside, plunking the Beavers center fielder in the
right thigh.
Danny Putnam–starting his first Triple-A
game–then spanked the second pitch he saw off the wall in left center field to
stretch the Beavers’ lead to 6-1. Another newly-acquired Beaver–former Seattle
farmhand Yamid Haad–followed Putnam’s shot with a line-drive single up the
middle for Portland’s second straight two-out RBI base knock.
The lone bright spot for the Rainiers
(40-46) was Owens, who went 3-for-4 for his fifth multi-hit game in the past 10
contests to raise his average to .297.
Notes: Tonight was the first time in the past four games that the Rainiers have failed to tally 10 hits … With his ninth-inning pinch-hit double, Prentice Redman stretched his hitting streak to five games.
PREVIEW: Rainiers Go for Sweep Over Rivals
Starter Andy Baldwin (5-5, 4.90 ERA) will take the mound tonight in search
of his second straight Independence Day weekend win, following his six-inning,
three-hit performance against the Portland Beavers on July 5 of last year.
Beavers starter Brian Lawrence–who started the season
with the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League–has
pitched at least six innings in each of his last three starts for Portland.
Despite his 2.70 ERA, Lawrence is hittable, giving up 22 hits over his 20
innings of work for Portland. Opposing hitters own a .282 batting average against Lawrence during his time in the PCL this season.
That should be music to the ears of several Rainiers hitters, who have caught fire in recent weeks. After slumping through the first three weeks of June, designated hitter Jeff Clement has awoken from his slumber, and over the past 10 games is hitting .385 with 13 runs scored, four home runs, four doubles and eight RBI. Then of course, there is the franchise’s new doubles king, All-Star Bryan LaHair. In his past 10 games, LaHair has hit .333 with two doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI.
After starting the season with Double-A West Tennessee, catcher Adam Moore has found the PCL a bit more to his liking. Over his 40 games with the Rainiers, the hard-nosed Texan is hitting .304 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 20 RBI. He’s been even better over his last 10 games, posting an average of .333.
So what does all this offense add up to? Tacoma has outscored Portland 25-13 in five games this season, and 93-39 over the last 13 in the series, of which the Rainiers have won 12. In fact, including all of last season, Tacoma is 15-6 against the Beavers in their last 21 meetings.
Tonight the Tacoma
Rainiers will celebrate Independence Day early with our largest Friday Night
Fireworks display of the season, brought to you by Rainier
Connect.
If you’ve ever
wanted to set foot on Cheney Stadium’s hallowed turf, tonight is your chance to
do just that, as fans will be let onto the outfield
grass following the series finale against the Beavers to watch our most
spectacular post-game show of the year.
Rainiers Trade in Bats for Clubs
Yesterday at McCormick Woods Golf Course,
16 Tacoma Rainiers players and coaches traded in their lumber and leather for
drivers and nine irons in the annual Rainiers Golf Tournament, with proceeds
benefiting Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.
Along with the Tacoma coaching staff–manager
Daren Brown, hitting coach Alonzo Powell and pitching coach Dwight Bernard–outfielders
Prentice Redman, Jerry Owens and Bryan LaHair, catcher Fleming Baez, infielders
Callix Crabbe and Erick Monzon and pitchers Eric Hull, Doug Fister, Josh Hall,
Jared Wells, Andy Baldwin and Justin Thomas all teed it up for charity.
Several Rainiers players participated in
the pre-round putting contest, with LaHair turning in the closest putt to the
pin, rolling his shot to within a foot and a half of the cup.
On the first hole, Parkland Chevrolet’s
Ron VanGeystel parked his ball closest to the flag at five and a quarter
inches, just beating out Thomas (eight inches) to take home a prize package
including a PCL hat and shirt, as well as a Paint the Park Purple Jersey.
The second hole was the site of the
Rainiers long-drive contest, with Powell narrowly beating out Baldwin for the
longest drive of the day on that hole.
The 12th hole featured the Rainier
Connect Marshmallow Drive contest, which was won by D.J. Cobb, who whacked a
marshmallow 134 feet, eight inches.
For much of the afternoon, the team of
Brown, Jeff Sadler, Marty Boscos, John Combs and Jason Stockton paced the field
in the scramble-play format, but they were edged out by one stroke in the end
by the team of Hull, Dan Koch, Adam Knoll, Rick Adams, Jerry Isaksen and BZ
Zenczak for the tournament’s top honors.
Baldwin’s team of Kale and Wayne Larkin,
Jeremy Balzarini and Alex Schilter came in third, shooting a 57 on the day.
The Rainiers return to action today
against the Las Vegas 51s, the Triple-A Affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The last time Tacoma squared off with the
51s, in a June 6-9 set at Cashman Field, the two squads split the four-game
series, with the Rainiers coming out on top 9-2 in the opener and 6-3 in the
finale.
The last time
these two teams clashed, there was offense aplenty, with Tacoma and Las Vegas combining for 42
runs on 85 hits during their four-game set earlier in the month, with the
Rainiers going 44-for-147 (.299) against 51s pitching.
Las Vegas starter Brian Burres is 0-1
this season against Tacoma, allowing five runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings on
June 6.
PREVIEW: Baldwin on a Roll for Rainiers
Today will be an all-Northwest pitching
match-up, as Oregon State alum Andy Baldwin faces of against Tony Barnette, who
graduated from Federal Way’s Thomas Jefferson High in 2002.
Baldwin–who has
won three of his last four decisions–will work to stop a season-high four-game
skid for the Rainiers. In his last outing, Baldwin earned the win with a strong
seven innings against the Portland Beavers, allowing seven hits and just one
walk on June 16.
Reno currently owns a four-game winning streak in Tacoma, having taken the first three contests of this series and the final game of their June 2-5 set at Cheney Stadium, but the Aces will be going in blind against Baldwin, who has yet to face Reno this season.
The Rainiers will be celebrating Father’s Day the only way they know how: in style. Pamper your pops by visiting the Comcast booth on the main concourse, where you can treat Dear Old Dad to HD TV as part of the Comcast Triple Play package, and get an exclusive Rainiers baseball cap just for signing up.
Be sure to also visit the Take Me Fishing booth, where you can enter to win a guided fishing trip in Walt Disney World, or a fishing trip with Rainiers players and coaches.
VOTE RAINIERS! Triple-A All-Star Game Voting Open
The ballots are out, and now is your time to shine! Go to the homepage of Minor League Baseball and click the “VOTE NOW” button at the top of the page, because you–the fans–get a say-so in who starts this year’s Triple-A All-Star Game, just down the road in Portland, Ore.
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