TACOMA RAINIERS (34-29) @ ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (32-30) Tuesday, June 11 • 5:15 PM PT • Dell Diamond • Round Rock, TX RHP Ty Buttrey (0-2, 11.25) vs. RHP Adrian Sampson (7-2, 4.37)
TACOMA RAINIERS (34-29) @ ROUND ROCK EXPRESS (32-30)
Tuesday, June 11 • 5:15 PM PT • Dell Diamond • Round Rock, TX
RHP Ty Buttrey (0-2, 11.25) vs. RHP Adrian Sampson (7-2, 4.37)
TONIGHT’S GAME: Tacoma and Reno will play game one of their six-game series tonight and their first of 12-games between the two teams this season. The Rainiers will be going with a bullpen day to start the series, as their originally scheduled starter, Jhonathan Diaz, is expected to be recalled by Seattle today. Buttrey comes into play tonight with an 0-2 record and an 11.25 ERA through 17 relief appearances, allowing 20 earned runs on 25 hits and eight walks. He has struck out 17 batters over his 16.0 innings pitched, allowing opponents to hit .368 against him. Tonight will be his first start above Rookie League since 2016 with Double-A Portland, when he made nine starts. Opposite Buttrey will be Adrian Sampson taking the ball for Round Rock, set to make his 12th start of the season. Sampson is 7-2 with a 4.37 ERA through his first 11 starts, allowing 28 earned runs on 65 hits and 15 walks, striking out 41 batters over 57.2 innings. The right-hander’s seven wins are tied with Diaz for the most wins in the PCL and are his most wins in a single season since 2018, when he won eight games with the Express.
DOING HIS THING: Nick Solak recorded two more hits in the series finale against Reno on Sunday, raising his average on the year to a team-leading .316. Solak has played in under half of Tacoma’s games, despite being on the active roster all season. He has played in parts of 31 of the Rainiers’ 63 games, but continues to produce each time he is out there. The outfielder has recorded eight multi-hit games, tied for fifth on Tacoma’s season-long roster this year. Two of those multi-hit games came in his two starts last week, going 3-for-4 with a double and walk on Tuesday while going 2-for-3 with a double, two runs batted in and a walk on Sunday. In his 31 games, the 29-year-old is hitting .316 (30-for-95) with five doubles, three home runs, 21 runs batted in and 13 walks compared to 16 strikeouts. He is also a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases this year.
HEATING UP: From June 1-5, Cade Marlowe went hitless, going 0-for-13 with eight strikeouts compared to one walk. Since that tough three-game stretch, the outfielder has recorded a hit in three of his last four games, reaching base in all four. Over that stretch, he is hitting .278 (5-for-18) with two home runs, three runs batted in and one walk, going 3-for-3 in stolen bases. Marlowe has back-to-back games with a home run entering play tonight, clubbing a 452-foot blast on Saturday followed by an inside-the-park home run on Sunday. Speed has been a factor for Marlowe all season long, as he leads the league with 31 stolen bases entering play tonight, going 31-for-35 on the year.
ON THE MOVE: The last three days have brought a multitude of roster moves made by Seattle that have directly impacted Tacoma’s roster. On Sunday, Seattle added infielder Tyler Locklear and relief pitcher Matt Bowman, both of whom were on Tacoma’s active roster. To make room for those two, they designated pitchers Eduardo Salazar and Levi Stoudt for assignment, taking two pitchers off the Rainiers’ roster. Yesterday, they activated infielder Leo Rivas, followed by Eduard Bazardo and Jhonathan Diaz today. Over the course of the last three days, Tacoma has lost five pitchers and two outfielders, with five of the seven players going up to Seattle. The Rainiers are expected to add players from Double-A Arkansas and Advanced-A Everett to help fill the vacated roster spots.
LOSING A LEADER: Jhonathan Diaz is expected to get recalled by Seattle before tonight’s game, leaving Tacoma’s active roster for the first time all season. Diaz has been the Rainiers’ ace, going 7-1 with a 2.98 ERA in 12 games with the Rainiers. The southpaw allowed just 22 earned runs on 61 hits and 16 walks, striking out 67 batters over 66.1 innings pitched. He is among Pacific Coast League pitching leaders in ERA (2.98, 2nd), wins (7, T-1st), strikeouts (67, 4th), innings pitched (66.1, 5th), batting average against (.244, 2nd), WHIP (1.16, 1st) and winning percentage (.875, 1st).
A NEW OPPONENT: Tacoma and Round Rock will meet for the first time this year tonight, their first meeting since the final six games of the 2023 campaign. Through their first 11 series of the year, the Rainiers have played five different teams. Tacoma has played Reno three times, Las Vegas, Sacramento and Salt Lake twice, while matching up against El Paso and Oklahoma City once. The Express will be the third team from the Pacific Coast League Eastern division Tacoma will face and it will be the first on the road, as they played both Oklahoma City and El Paso at Cheney Stadium, going 6-3 in those nine games. This will be the first trip for the Rainiers to Dell Diamond since April 11-16 last season, a series in which Tacoma went 2-4. It is the lone trip this year, as the two teams meet for just one more six-game set in the last series of the regular season, from Sept. 17-22 at Cheney Stadium.
AGAINST ROUND ROCK: Tacoma and Round Rock will play game one of their current six-game series and the first of 12 this season between the two teams this season. They played 15 games last year and the Express had the Rainiers’ number, as Tacoma went just 4-11 against Round Rock. Tacoma went 2-4 at Dell Diamond and 2-7 at Cheney Stadium, including four straight losses to end the year. Despite the struggles last season, the Rainiers lead the all-time series by 14 games, at 54-40.
SHORT HOPS: Tonight will be the first road games of the year against a PCL East Division opponent for Tacoma, going 6-3 in their nine home games against PCL East opponents…the Rainiers will go for their first road win in June, starting the month 0-2 with two losses in Sacramento; they are 4-4 overall on the month, going 4-2 in their six home games.
