Packard's four-hit night not enough as River Cats top Rainiers 7-4
Spencer Packard went 4-for-4 with two doubles, but Tacoma still dropped a 7-4 decision as Sacramento flipped the game in a three-run fifth.
Spencer Packard turned in Tacoma’s best offensive line of the night and still watched the Rainiers walk away with another loss. Packard went 4-for-4 with two doubles, giving Tacoma its sixth four-hit game of the season, but Sacramento kept answering every push and beat the Rainiers 7-4 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.
The game stayed scoreless through four innings before Tacoma finally broke through in the fifth. Axel Sanchez drew a walk, Alejo Lopez followed by launching a two-run homer over the left-field wall, and the Rainiers grabbed a 2-0 lead. It did not last long. Sacramento came right back in the bottom half, strung together line drives and infield traffic, and erased the deficit with a three-run inning that shifted the game for good.
Jared Oliva delivered the biggest swing in that response, doubling into the left-center gap to drive in two runs and push Sacramento ahead 4-2. That burst came after Carson Whisenhunt had already started to suffocate Tacoma’s offense. The 25-year-old left-hander, a second-round pick by the San Francisco Giants in 2022, struck out a season-high 10 over 6.0 innings and allowed only four hits and two earned runs, repeatedly preventing Tacoma’s early singles from becoming a bigger inning. He left with Sacramento in control and lowered his Triple-A ERA to 3.66 on the outing.
Tacoma kept trying to claw back. Victor Labrada lined an RBI double in the eighth to cut the deficit again, joining Lopez in carrying the Rainiers’ scoring load, but the River Cats answered immediately. Sacramento loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning and added two more runs to create the final 7-4 margin. The official box score showed how the gap widened beyond the scoreboard: Sacramento finished with 11 hits and no errors, while Tacoma managed 9 hits but committed two errors and stranded six runners.
The loss underscored why Tacoma’s recent burst still has not turned into a series-changing run. The Rainiers had snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over Sacramento on June 2, but then dropped the next four games of the set, 7-3 on June 4, 4-0 on June 5, 7-4 on June 6 and 5-3 on June 7. Sacramento improved to 36-24, while Tacoma fell to 25-37, a clear marker of the difference between a club that can absorb damage and one still looking for a complete game.
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