Patrick Wisdom's Two-Homer Night Leads Tacoma Past Reno, 9-4

Patrick Wisdom, a right-handed power bat with 455 major league games behind him, gave the Mariners' front office something specific to evaluate Sunday at Greater Nevada Field. On the first pitch he saw, Wisdom pulled a three-run homer to left field and connected again for his second blast of the night, leading the Tacoma Rainiers to a 9-4 victory over the Reno Aces and a series win to open their Pacific Coast League season.

The game got moving quickly for Tacoma. Center fielder Rhylan Thomas greeted Reno starter Yu-Min Lin with a leadoff single in the first, and first baseman Connor Joe worked a walk with two outs to put runners at first and second. Wisdom needed just one pitch. He pulled Lin's offering to left for three runs and a 3-0 Tacoma lead.

Reno answered in the third when Luken Baker hit a two-run homer to pull the Aces back to 3-3, but Tacoma reclaimed the lead in the fourth through a multi-run rally keyed by Jakson Reetz's single and Will Wilson's run-scoring hit, stretching the margin to 5-3. The fifth brought more damage: Rodden slapped a 1-2 pitch down the left-field line for his second double of the game, shortstop Colt Emerson's fly ball to deep center moved Rodden to third, and Joe delivered a sacrifice fly to right that scored Rodden and pushed the lead to 6-3.

On the mound, right-hander Dane Dunning struck out the side in the first inning of his Rainiers debut and stranded a pair of runners in scoring position in the second. Houston Roth then threw two shutout innings in his first appearance of the season, working around a pair of walks in the fourth and sitting down the side in order in the fifth with two strikeouts. Tacoma's relievers combined to allow just one run across the final six innings despite a Reno comeback attempt in the sixth.

Wisdom's Sunday performance sharpens a real roster question. He signed a minor league deal with Seattle this offseason and is not on the 40-man roster, meaning any promotion requires a corresponding move. The Mariners enter April with their corner infield settled: Brendan Donovan at third, Josh Naylor at first. The designated hitter, however, is a shared assignment split among Luke Raley, Dominic Canzone, and Rob Refsnyder. Raley is returning from a significant 2025 injury, and Seattle is already carrying starter Bryce Miller on the 15-day IL with a left oblique strain, a signal that early-season roster adjustments are already in motion. A hitter who punished the first pitch he saw and backed it up with a second homer in separate trips to the plate has made his availability known at the right moment.

Tacoma improved to 2-1. Reno fell to 1-2.