Less than three weeks ago, the Tacoma Rainiers appeared to be playing for nothing more than a feel-good finish to the season and second place in the Pacific Coast League Pacific North Division.
Tonight, the Rainiers host Sacramento after pulling off a refuse-to-lose finish to win the division title.
The clincher was an 11-2 victory Monday over Colorado Springs that sent the Rainiers into the postseason. The two teams finished 74-70 but the Rainiers won the tiebreaker because of their better division record.
They host the River Cats tonight and Thursday night in the best-of-five Pacific Conference series, with the third, fourth and fifth games scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Sacramento. The winner advances to the PCL championship series, which begins Sept. 15.
This is the 11th time a Tacoma team has reached the postseason in the 50 years of the franchise, the first since 2005.
On Aug. 22, it didn’t seem possible for the Rainiers.
They were 71/2 games behind Colorado Springs with 17 to play but went on a nine-game winning streak that pulled them into a first-place tie by the end of August. Monday’s victory finished a 13-4 stretch to end the regular season.
The Rainiers also did it without several players who’d been called up to the Seattle Mariners late this season — outfielder Michael Saunders, first baseman Mike Carp and pitchers Doug Fister, Jason Vargas and Randy Messenger.
They’re also expected to head into the playoffs without pitcher Brandon Morrow, who the Mariners plan to call up late this week to start Friday in Texas. Morrow, sent down in July to continue his conversion into a starter, has gone 5-1 with a 1.96 earned run average with 28 strikeouts and 11 walks in 411/3 innings in his past six starts.
Right-hander Gaby Hernandez, one of the key performers in the Rainiers’ strong finish, was the winning pitcher Monday, giving him seven straight victories since Aug. 2. He’s 10-9, 5.23 this season.
Outfielder Jerry Owens finished second in the PCL batting race with a .326 average, and outfielder Bryan LaHair’s 26 home runs ranked third. LaHair and third baseman Chris Shelton each had 84 RBI to tie for the team lead.
Catcher Adam Moore, among the possibilities to be called up by the Mariners after Tacoma’s season ends, finished the regular season with a five-game hitting streak to give him a .294 average.
Elsewhere around the Mariners’ minor league system in the final week of the regular season:
Class AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx
Outfielder Ezequiel Carrera won the Southern League batting title with a .337 average despite going hitless in the final two games, and outfielder Greg Halman’s 25 home runs tied Birmingham’s David Cook for the league lead.
A late tailspin left the Diamond Jaxx 35-35 and second in the Southern League North, four games behind first-place Tennessee.
Shortstop Carlos Triunfel, who suffered a broken leg in the second game of the season, played the final five games and went 4-for-20 with two RBI. He’ll play for the Peoria Javelinas in the Arizona Fall League.
Right-hander Steve Bray went 7-8 and his 3.11 ERA was third-best in the league. Right-hander Kyle Parker, who pitched at the University of Washington, finished 5-5, 3.55 and allowed one earned run in 10 innings of relief since coming off the disabled list Aug. 22 because of an arm injury. Right-hander Luis Munoz was 8-7, 4.08 in 23 starts, including a 4-1 record in his final six starts.
Right-hander Danny Cortes, obtained from the Royals in the July trade for Yuniesky Betancourt, finished 1-5, 4.94 in 10 starts.
Class A High Desert Mavericks
Third baseman Alex Liddi’s late-season slump allowed Koby Clemens of Lancaster to catch him, and the two finished tied for the California League batting title with .345 averages. Liddi went 2-for-5 in the final regular-season game Sunday and batted .176 in the last 10 games.
Outfielder Tyson Gillies finished third in the league with a .341 average and James McOwen fourth at .340. Gillies batted .410 in the final 10 games.
Outfielder Carlos Peguero finished second in the league with 31 home runs and first baseman Joe Dunigan third with 30. Dunigan and Liddi tied for third with 104 RBI apiece.
Right-hander Donald Hume finished 17-5, 4.81 and led the league in victories. Right-hander Steven Hensley went 9-3, 4.21.
The Mavericks, who finished 40-30 and won the South Division second half by six games over Lake Elsinore, also won the first half and earned a first-round bye in the playoffs. They’ll begin the second round on Saturday against either Lake Elsinore or Rancho Cucamonga, who begin a best-of-three first-round series tonight.
Class A Clinton LumberKings
Right-hander Kenn Kasparek overcame a slow start to the season and finished 10-6, 2.41 and won the Midwest League ERA title. He was 0-2, 7.71 in April.
Left-hander Derrick Saito, obtained in July from the Royals in the Yuniesky Betancourt trade, finished 0-1, 3.86 in 13 games.
First baseman Scott Savastano batted .300, eighth in the league, and outfielder Denny Almonte led the team with 13 home runs. Third baseman Nate Tenbrink led the team with 59 RBI.
The LumberKings finished 29-38 and sixth place in the Western Division second half.
Class A Pulaski Mariners
Outfielder Brandon Haveman’s .339 average was fourth in the Appalachian League, and shortstop Gabriel Noriega was ninth at .311. Right-hander John Housey finished 3-2, 2.62 in eight starts with 47 strikeouts in 442/3 innings. Right-hander Jorden Merry, of the University of Washington, finished 2-1, 3.06 in 16 relief appearances and had a streak of 12 innings without an earned run broken in his final game on Sept. 1.
The Mariners finished 28-36 and 17 games out of first place in the East Division.
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