Mosser shines again, Rainiers fall 2-1 to Las Vegas

Gabe Mosser did enough to win almost anywhere, and Tacoma still came up a run short. The right-hander tied his career high by working 7.0 innings, but the Rainiers lost 2-1 to Las Vegas on Wednesday night at Cheney Stadium, their second straight 2-1 defeat in a series where every mistake has been magnified.

Mosser allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks, striking out six while continuing a season that has quietly become one of the steadiest in Triple-A. He is now 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in seven appearances, and his four quality starts lead all minor league pitchers. After Cade Marlowe opened the scoring by launching the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall in the second inning, a 103.2 mph solo shot, Mosser settled in and retired eight straight batters. He kept Tacoma close even after Las Vegas pushed the lead to 2-0 in the seventh.

That second Aviators run came on a Joey Meneses single, a walk and a Junior Perez sacrifice fly, the kind of sequence that has been enough in this series. Joey Estes held Tacoma down even longer, taking a no-hitter into the sixth before Ryan Bliss broke it up with a two-out single. Tacoma finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh when Rhylan Thomas crushed his second home run of the year to cut the deficit to 2-1, but the rally stopped there and the Rainiers went down in order in the ninth.

The loss left Tacoma at 14-15, 3.0 games back in the Pacific Coast League West, while Las Vegas improved to 16-11 and extended its winning streak to five games. The setting fit the script: Cheney Stadium, Tacoma’s home since 1960 and a 6,500-seat park renovated in 2011, offered another low-scoring grind in a league that usually leans offensive. The Rainiers’ bullpen was clean again after Mosser exited, and its 2.24 ERA, 69 hits allowed and two home runs allowed still ranked best among minor league bullpens. But with the lineup producing only one run in each of the first two games of the set, Tacoma’s margin for error has narrowed to almost nothing. Rhylan Thomas, who extended his on-base streak to nine games, gave the home crowd a jolt. It was not enough to change the result.