The Tacoma Rainiers (51-41) scored 11 unanswered runs to beat the host Albuquerque Isotopes (35-57) by a score of 13-5 on Saturday.
Luis Urias gave the Rainiers an early lead, clubbing a two-run home run in the first inning. Albuquerque also scored in the first with an RBI double from Elehuris Montero, making it 2-1. It stayed there until the third, when the Isotopes got four runs on one swing of the bat.
Jimmy Herron hit a grand slam to give Albuquerque a three-run lead, at 5-2. From there, it was all Rainiers, as Duke Ellis tied the game in the fifth with a bases-clearing triple. Tacoma scored in each following innings, putting up a run in the sixth on an RBI single from Urias.
They got two in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Michael Papierski and an RBI single from Leo Rivas, taking an 8-5 lead. Spencer Packard used an RBI double in the eighth to make it 9-5, and the Rainiers weren’t done there.
A four-run ninth sealed the game, as Tacoma scored on RBI singles from Tyler Locklear and Jason Vosler, as well as a sacrifice fly from Packard. On the other side of the ball, four relievers threw scoreless innings for the Rainiers, keeping Albuquerque’s offense at five.
Heath Hembree struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect ninth inning, ending Tacoma’s losing streak and earning them a win.
• The visiting Everett AquaSox fell to the Spokane Indians 4-1 despite a home run by Freuddy Batista, his fifth of the year.
Spokane (53-31) outhit the Sox (41-45) by a margin of 10 to 4.
GOLF
• Sam Renner of Bend, Ore., won the 122nd Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship with a 2-up victory over Bryden Brown of Moscow, Idaho, in the 36-hole final match. The championship was held this past week at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla. Renner will be a junior on Washington State’s men’s golf team next year.