Wisdom hits two homers, Tacoma tops El Paso 6-3 to even series

Patrick Wisdom turned Tacoma’s trip to El Paso into a reminder of how fast one familiar power bat can change a game. On a night when the Rainiers needed an answer after a rough start to the series, Wisdom homered twice in an MLB injury rehab appearance and helped Tacoma beat the Chihuahuas 6-3 at Southwest University Park.

The Rainiers used long balls to flip the tone. Hogan Windish delivered the first surge with his first Triple-A home run in the third inning, then Wisdom supplied the veteran punch that made the performance feel bigger than a single box score. Tacoma finished with three home runs, a useful show of muscle for a club trying to steady itself after dropping the first three games of the series.

El Paso briefly seized control when Clay Dungan launched a three-run homer in the fourth, but Tacoma answered immediately. The Rainiers pushed across three runs in the fifth to take the lead right back, then let the bullpen handle the final stretch and protect the cushion. The quick response mattered as much as the power itself. In a park where the ball can travel and momentum can flip in a hurry, Tacoma did not let one swing bury it.

The win gave Tacoma a split of the series after the Chihuahuas had opened with a walk-off victory on May 6, followed by a 4-1 loss on May 7 and a 17-2 defeat on May 8. Saturday’s rebound was a sharp turn from that early turbulence, and it moved both teams to 18-20.

For Wisdom, the night carried extra weight beyond the immediate result. He had already shown his power in Tacoma earlier this season, hitting a league-leading fifth home run for the Rainiers in an April 3 loss to El Paso, a blast Tacoma said left the bat at 112.5 mph, the hardest-hit ball by a Rainier that season. Two more homers in this game only strengthened the sense that his bat is ready to matter again.

Windish’s milestone gave the Rainiers another promising note, while Wisdom’s rehab showing gave the organization the kind of immediate offensive impact that can resonate well beyond Triple-A. For Seattle, that is the point of a rehab assignment: not just to log at-bats, but to see whether a proven power source can still tilt a game. On this night, Wisdom did exactly that.