Tacoma, WA – The Tacoma Rainiers belted three home runs en route to a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Monday evening at Cheney Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.
The Sounds (17-26) jumped out to an early lead, plating a pair of unearned runs against Tacoma starter Fabio Castro in the top of the first inning following a fielding error by shortstop Sean Kazmar. Catcher George Kottaras continued his recent hot hitting by delivering a two-out, two-run single in the frame.
Tacoma halved the Nashville lead in the second. Luis Jimenez led off the inning by drawing a walk from Sounds starter Josh Butler and later scored on Matt Tuiasosopo’s two-out double to right.
The Rainiers knotted the score at 2-2 in the fourth when right fielder Johan Limonta belted a two-out solo homer to right-center off Butler, his second longball of the year.
Brendan Katin put the Sounds back in front, 3-2, in the sixth when he belted a mammoth leadoff homer over the left field foul pole. The blast, off Castro, was his team-leading 11th of the season.
Tacoma responded immediately, taking its first lead of the night in the bottom of the frame with a pair of solo homers off Butler. Mike Carp led off with a line-drive solo shot to right that barely cleared the 325-foot fence, the outfielder’s 11th roundtripper of the year. Two batters later, Rainiers third baseman Alex Liddi swatted a go-ahead blast to left, his ninth of the year, giving the home team a 4-3 lead.
The Rainiers extended their lead to 5-3 in the seventh when Ryan Langerhans laced a two-out RBI single to right off Sounds reliever Zack Segovia.
Tacoma reliever Scott Patterson (1-0) picked up his first win of the year with 1 1/3 hitless innings behind Castro.
Hard-throwing right-hander Dan Cortes closed out the contest with two scoreless frames, striking out five batters, to earn his first save of the year for the Rainiers.
Nashville threatened in the ninth, putting two runners into scoring position with two outs in the frame, before Cortes caught Caleb Gindl looking at a game-ending third strike to ice the victory.
Butler (2-3) took the loss after allowing four runs on six hits over six innings. The right-hander, who had allowed only three home runs all season entering the contest, gave up three taters on the night.
Sounds shortstop Eric Farris went 2-for-4 on the night to extend his longest hit streak of the year to eight games.
The teams continue the series with a 1:35pm matinee on Tuesday afternoon. Left-hander Chase Wright (1-3, 3.12 will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face Tacoma southpaw Luke French (0-5, 5.98).
Box Score
Tacoma Rainiers (19-26) 5, Nashville Sounds (17-26) 3
May 23rd, 2011
| Â | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville      | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | |
| Tacoma      | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | x | 5 | 8 | 2 | |
| Â | |||||||||||||
| Nashville | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gindl, CF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | .235 |
| Farris, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .271 |
| Carroll, B, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .266 |
| Katin, DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .255 |
| Gamel, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .313 |
| Kottaras, G, C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .271 |
| Maysonet, 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .279 |
| Reed, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .200 |
| Nowak, 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .184 |
| Â Â Butler, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .125 |
| Â Â Segovia, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Â Â Hinton, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 34 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 14 | .255 |
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| BATTING
HR: Katin (11, 6th inning off Castro, F, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Farris 2; Carroll, B; Katin 4; Kottaras, G; Maysonet; Nowak. RBI: Kottaras, G 2 (11), Katin (24). 2-out RBI: Kottaras, G 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Maysonet 2; Nowak; Gamel; Gindl 2. GIDP: Carroll, B. Team RISP: 1-for-8. Team LOB: 7. |
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| Tacoma | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ackley, 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .263 |
| Langerhans, CF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .308 |
| Carp, LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .306 |
| Jimenez, L, DH | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .231 |
| Liddi, 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .246 |
| Limonta, RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .358 |
| Tuiasosopo, M, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .217 |
| Bard, J, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .306 |
| Kazmar, SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .220 |
| Â Â Castro, F, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Â Â Patterson, S, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Â Â Cortes, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 32 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 11 | .268 |
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| BATTING
2B: Tuiasosopo, M (9, Butler). HR: Limonta (2, 4th inning off Butler, 0 on, 2 out), Carp (11, 6th inning off Butler, 0 on, 0 out), Liddi (9, 6th inning off Butler, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Ackley; Langerhans 2; Carp 4; Liddi 4; Limonta 4; Tuiasosopo, M 2; Kazmar. RBI: Tuiasosopo, M (26), Limonta (20), Carp (32), Liddi (25), Langerhans (9). 2-out RBI: Tuiasosopo, M; Limonta; Langerhans. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Bard, J; Langerhans; Jimenez, L. Team RISP: 2-for-6. Team LOB: 6.BASERUNNING SB: Jimenez, L (2, 2nd base off Butler/Kottaras, G). FIELDING E: Kazmar (13, fielding), Carp (4, throw). DP: (Liddi-Ackley-Tuiasosopo, M). |
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| Nashville | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butler (L, 2-3) | 6.0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5.35 |
| Segovia | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.86 |
| Hinton | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6.00 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4.77 |
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
| Tacoma | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castro, FÂ | 5.2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4.14 |
| Patterson, SÂ (W, 1-0) | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Cortes (S, 1) | 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3.38 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 5.42 |
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
WP: Segovia, Cortes 2.
Balk: Butler.
Pitches-strikes: Butler 77-47, Segovia 15-9, Hinton 13-8, Castro, F 106-70, Patterson, S 14-10, Cortes 39-29.
Groundouts-flyouts: Butler 5-5, Segovia 1-1, Hinton 1-0, Castro, F 4-6, Patterson, S 1-1, Cortes 0-1.
Batters faced: Butler 25, Segovia 6, Hinton 4, Castro, F 24, Patterson, S 4, Cortes 9.
Umpires: HP: Clint Fagan. 1B: Dixon Stureman. 2B: . 3B: Stephen Barga.
Weather: 61 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 1 mph, In from LF.
T: 2:29.
Att: 2,938.
Compiled by MLB Advanced Media
