Rainiers drop third straight in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City, UT (5/5/23) – The Tacoma Rainiers (15-15) couldn’t rally from a first inning deficit on Friday night, and lost a third straight to the Salt Lake Bees (14-17) by a 7-3 final. The Bees have won three straight, and five of six. Tacoma will look to salvage what is currently a 3-7 road trip over the weekend.

Salt Lake led 3-0 after an inning. Mickey Moniak led off with a triple, before Michael Stefanic (sac fly) and former Rainier Kevin Padlo (2-run single) made Tacoma pay for a pair of walks.

Rainiers right-hander Nick Davila, making his Triple-A debut on loan from Class A Modesto, settled down and was superb after the rocky first. Through the first out of the sixth inning, Davila retired 12 consecutive batters and ended up throwing 85 pitches through 5.2 IP: 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. The Bees scored twice more in the sixth however; three consecutive one-out singles, a Taylor Jones sac fly and an error extended Salt Lake’s lead to 5-0.

Bees lefty Jake Kalish scattered five hits and a walk over 7.0 IP, and also made 85 pitches. He allowed only one (earned) run and struck out nine. Tacoma broke up the shutout in the seventh, after Jake Scheiner led off with a single and scored when Pat Valaika roped a two-out double to center. Salt Lake returned the favor in the home seventh though, when Moniak hit his second triple, ricocheting off the right field wall. Moniak scored a batter later on a David Fletcher sac fly, the Bees’ third of the evening, which made it 6-1.

Salt Lake’s fourth sac fly came in the eighth for their seventh and final run. Stefanic singled, Padlo (2 HR last night) continued his big series with his third hit on Friday, a double. Stefanic trotted home when Jordyn Adams flew out to right.

The Rainiers rallied for two in the ninth after it had all become academic. Mike Ford worked a leadoff walk, and moved to third on a Scheiner double to right. Each scored on RBI groundouts by Jacob Nottingham and Jack Larsen.

The penultimate game of the weeklong series will be on Saturday at Smith’s Ballpark. Tacoma is scheduled to start southpaw Tommy Milone, against Salt Lake right-hander Luis Ledo. First pitch will be at 5:35 PT/6:35 MT.

Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto will have full coverage on TacomaRainiers.com. All 2023 Rainiers games, home and away, can also be heard for free on the MiLB First Pitch app. HD video broadcasts of every home game can be viewed with a MiLB.TV subscription.

About the Tacoma Rainiers

The Tacoma Rainiers are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. The Rainiers are a member of the Pacific Coast League and have been a Mariners affiliate since establishing the Rainiers moniker in 1995.

The most up-to-date news and notes about the Tacoma Rainiers and Cheney Stadium can be found by following the Rainiers on Twitter (@RainiersLand), Instagram (@tacomarainiers) and liking the team on Facebook.