Rainiers’ Chick muzzles 51s
Travis Chick pitched a two-hitter with nine strikeouts Thursday night to lead the Tacoma Rainiers to a 3-1 Pacific Coast League victory over the 51s at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Wash.
Chick (1-0), a right-hander making his second start for the Rainiers (67-58) since being promoted from Double-A West Tennessee, pitched Tacoma's third complete game of the season. He threw 81 of his 120 pitches for strikes, walked none and faced just two batters over the minimum in lowering his ERA to 2.57.
The lone baserunners for Las Vegas (64-62) were Jason Repko, who hit his 10th home run of the season with one out in the fourth inning, and A.J. Ellis, who led off the sixth with a double.
Miguel Pinango (4-9) took the loss, giving up three runs, two earned, on 10 hits and one walk in seven innings as the 51s lost their third straight game and sixth in their past seven. Pinango, who threw 71 of his 109 pitches for strikes, struck out six.
Prentice Redman, one of four Tacoma players to finish with two hits, led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and scored on a double by Matt Tuiasosopo.
Rob Johnson and Luis Valbuena had back-to-back bunt singles to lead off the Tacoma second, and Johnson scored on a single by Jon Nelson. But Pinango notched two straight strikeouts to limit the damage.
The Rainiers capped the scoring in the fifth, when Tuiasosopo hit a two-out single and scored on Shawn Garrett's double.
Tacoma, which has won three straight games and 13 of 16, hosts the 51s at 7 p.m. today in the finale of the teams' four-game series.
