Rainiers notes: McCaughan bookends series win with scoreless starts

On June 15 in a home start versus Triple-A Sacramento at Cheney Stadium, Tacoma starter Darren McCaughan took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, striking out a season-high 11. Perfect for four frames, McCaughan mystified River Cat hitters with a bending slider and, as always, relied on sharp command for a fastball that sits in the upper 80s.

“I was putting my slider wherever I wanted to, and that’s my best pitch, analytically,” McCaughan told The News Tribune in June. “I think when I’m doing that, I’m pretty successful. Having the fastball and changeup to play off of that when I needed was good.”

It was a similar story Tuesday when McCaughan was tapped for a start at Triple-A Salt Lake, the first of six on the road. The 26-year-old was brilliant again, tallying seven strikeouts with no walks in six scoreless innings. McCaughan surrendered four hits – all singles – as he carried a quiet Tacoma offense to a 2-0 victory over the Bees in the series opener.

“When he’s in the zone with three of his four pitches … I mean, it’s gonna be a tough, tough day for the hitters,” manager Tim Federowicz said. “As long as he can do that, and he can consistently throw strikes with all three pitches, he’s in a good spot.”

McCaughan had worked on better commanding his slider in recent weeks, providing leeway for comfortable use of a four-pitch arsenal, including a sinker and changeup. Though there’s no cause for concern – in his last 16 appearances, McCaughan sports a 3.16 ERA with 84 strikeouts and 25 walks. Opposing hitters are slashing just .210/.277/.343 against him.

“He commands everything,” Federowicz said. “(Darren) can pitch to the corners, and he does very well.”

McCaughan capped perhaps the performance of the week with another scoreless start Sunday, lasting four innings and surrendering only a hit en route to a 5-0 shutout win, the club’s Pacific Coast League-leading ninth of the season.

Sunday’s showing was McCaughan’s sixth this season without a walk. It was his 12th allowing four or fewer hits.

In total, he left Sacramento hitters frustrated across two days, for a total of 10 scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and no walks. In that span, opponents mustered a .147 batting average.

Sunday’s win also capped a series win for the Rainiers, securing four of six from the River Cats.

After McCaughan dazzled in Tuesday’s series opener, Sacramento evened the series Wednesday with a 9-3 win.

Later in the week, the clubs traded wins again. Tacoma’s Austin Warner went five strong innings in a 6-1 win Thursday, and the River Cats edged the Rainiers on Friday, 4-3.

Infielder Jonathan Villar powered the Rainiers to a 10-4 victory Saturday with a 4-for-4 performance, featuring a second-inning home run and seventh-inning triple. He tacked on three runs, three RBI, and collected nine total bases.

The Rainiers (57-66) began their season at 9-23, but are 48-43 since. They’re tied with Salt Lake for third in the PCL West, trailing Reno (68-55) by 11 games.

“I think we’ve got a unique opportunity with this group, because the big league team [Mariners] is in a playoff run right now,” Federowicz said. “It just makes it more exciting for guys to come in and make sure they’re getting their work in, because at any moment, they could be going up and helping the big league team try to win a World Series.

“That’s really exciting. That’s where we’re focused, and we’ll see how it pans out.”

SHORT HOPS

▪ It wasn’t enough to complete a valiant comeback effort on Friday night, but Marcus Wilson launched a 400-foot homer in the ninth inning of the 4-3 loss, pairing the blast with perhaps the most epic bat flip of Tacoma’s season.

Federowicz wasn’t a spectator of Wilson’s animated lumber toss in real time but heard the noisy reactions from teammates, instead watching the ball sail to left-center and over the fence at Smith’s Ballpark. It plated two runs and cut the deficit to one before Salt Lake held on, evening the six-game set at two games apiece.

“I heard the guys talking about it,” Federowicz said. “I didn’t see it. I was watching the ball, because it didn’t clear (the wall) by much. But that was a big swing for Marcus, especially since he’s not getting a lot of reps these days.

“I was proud of him for taking that last at-bat seriously.”

▪ Outfielder Taylor Trammell continues to incinerate baseballs, now slashing .412/.474/.677 with three doubles, two home runs and six RBI in the 24-year-old’s last eight games.

Paired with the power surge is a near-elimination of the strikeout, with only three punchouts in Trammell’s last 38 plate appearances. Federowicz was impressed in recent days by the former first-rounder’s ability to take off-speed pitches and hunt for the fastball, helping bolster a mammoth 1.150 OPS since Aug. 18.

“Being aggressive like that just forces mistakes by the pitcher,” Federowicz added. “And he’s been taking advantage of those.”

▪ Jarred Kelenic was 0-for-4 in Friday’s loss to Salt Lake, though he didn’t strike out. It was the eighth time in nine games that the 23-year-old avoided the punchout, and it marked a stretch where Kelenic struck out only once in 41 plate appearances.

Even with three combined strikeouts in a pair of wins over the weekend, Kelenic’s strikeout rate continues to plummet dramatically throughout his most recent Triple-A stint, now sitting below 9 percent in his last 13 games (five strikeouts in 56 plate appearances).

In Kelenic’s recent 10-game stretch with the Mariners from July 31 to Aug. 10, Kelenic struck out at nearly a 41 percent clip (11 strikeouts in 27 plate appearances).

“He came back down the second stint and kind of realized he needed to make some adjustments going forward,” Federowicz said Saturday. “I think it’s confidence. He’s going up there confident, knowing that he can see the ball and put good swings on it.”

ON TAP

Tacoma received an off-day on Monday and kicks off a six-game homestand with Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. PT.