Rainiers fall 3-2 on walk-off wild pitch in Sugar Land
Yosver Zulueta’s wild pitch in the ninth flipped Randy Dobnak’s best start into a 3-2 Tacoma loss, and Sugar Land took its second walk-off of the series.
One pitch spoiled Randy Dobnak’s best start of the season. Yosver Zulueta uncorked a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth, and the Tacoma Rainiers fell 3-2 to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at Constellation Field, a loss that came after Dobnak had delivered 4.2 innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and only four baserunners allowed.
Tacoma looked in control early. Rhylan Thomas and Ryan Bliss opened the third with back-to-back singles, Colt Emerson was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Brock Rodden lifted a sacrifice fly to shallow center to bring Thomas home for a 1-0 lead. The Rainiers added again in the fourth when Victor Labrada and Jhonny Pereda drew consecutive walks, Carson Taylor lined into a double play, and Will Wilson singled to set up Thomas, who drilled an RBI double off the right-field wall to score Pereda and make it 2-0.
Sugar Land started clawing back in the fifth. Kellen Strahm singled, Riley Unroe reached on an error, and Carlos Pérez beat out an infield hit to load the bases before Jack Winkler was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Tacoma turned to Robinson Ortiz to keep the inning from unraveling, and he struck out C.J. Alexander to preserve the 2-1 lead. The Space Cowboys tied it in the seventh when Biggers and Pérez opened with singles, Biggers moved to third on a flyout, and Alexander followed with a sacrifice fly to right.
The ninth was all leverage and no margin. Biggers walked, Pérez collected his second infield single of the night, and Biggers stole third before Winkler struck out. With two outs, Zulueta missed with a wild pitch and Biggers sprinted home with the winning run. It was Sugar Land’s second walk-off win of the series, another reminder of how quickly a one-run game can turn in Triple-A when a bullpen loses the strike zone for one pitch.
Thomas kept his run of production going as well, finishing 2-for-5 with a double, RBI and run. It was his fifth multi-hit game of the season, tied with Patrick Wisdom for the team lead, and another sign that Tacoma’s offense is getting enough from its core bats to win these games if the late innings hold.
The rainiers will try to salvage the finale on Sunday, with Gabriel Mosser set to start and first pitch scheduled for 12:05 p.m. PT.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
