WEST SACRAMENTO (August 20, 2026) — There were just three combined runs scored on Thursday night at Sutter Health Park, but two of them belonged to the Sacramento River Cats ( /71-49) as they held on to beat the Tacoma Rainiers ( /54-69) 2-1. Gabe Mosser logged his ninth quality start of the season, allowing two runs over 6.0 innings, scattering nine hits and striking out three. Michael Arroyo tallied Tacoma’s lone run with a solo home run in the ninth inning in the loss.
Pitching was the story in the first four innings of Thursday night’s game. Gabe Mosser spread out four hits across the first four frames, while Tacoma tallied two hits and a walk in the second inning, but left the bases loaded.
The River Cats broke the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fifth inning. Will Brennan led off the inning with a sacrifice bunt, and Nate Furman drove in the game’s first run on an RBI single. Scott Bandura singled to keep the inning going, but Mosser stranded the pair of runners to keep it a 1-0 game.
Bo Davidson (5) doubled Sacramento’s lead with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, putting the River Cats up 2-0. After giving up a double to Grant McCray, Mosser retired the next three hitters to finish the quality start, logging 6.0 innings of two-run baseball.
Perdomo was perfect in six of his seven innings of work, retiring the final 17 Rainiers hitters he faced, becoming just the fifth pitcher to complete 7.0 innings against Tacoma in a game this season.
Nick Garcia kept the Rainiers in the game, firing a perfect seventh inning with a strikeout.
Tacoma began a rally in the top of the eighth inning, as Sacrament turned to reliever Cristian Alvarado. Stuart Fairchild hit a leadoff single and Nolan Jones walked. After Nick Raposo lined out, a wild pitch pushed the tying runs into scoring position. However, they were left stranded as the next three hitters were retired, keeping the Rainiers off the board.
Seth Shuman took care of the eighth inning, erasing a one-out walk with an inning-ending double play as he got McCray to line out, with the throw going back to first to double off Davidson.
The Rainiers entered the ninth inning looking for a pair of runs to keep the game alive. Michael Arroyo (7) led off the inning with a home run to left-center field, breaking up the shutout and cutting the deficit in half at 2-1. That was as close as Tacoma got, though, falling for the third straight game.
The series continues on Friday night at Sutter Health Park, with Carson Fulmer set to toe the rubber in his 13th start with Tacoma. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 PM.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- RHP Gabe Mosser logged his ninth quality start of the season on Thursday night, tied for the third-most in the minor leagues, and his third in a row…Mosser is the second PCL pitcher this season to log multiple quality start streaks of at least three games, joining Salt Lake’s George Klassen…over his last three starts, Mosser has allowed five runs over 18.2 innings…the quality start was also Tacoma’s 33rd of the season, the most in the minor leagues.
- INF/OF Michael Arroyo hit his seventh home run of the season in the top of the ninth inning on Thursday…it’s his first home run since August 9 at Las Vegas…Arroyo's 29 RBI since his Triple-A debut on July 7 are the sixth-most in the PCL, as are his 41 hits.
- INF/OF Connor Joe extended his on-base streak to 18 games on Thursday, drawing a walk in the second inning…it’s tied for the longest on-base streak for a Rainiers player this season…Joe’s walk was his 15th since July 28 (when his on-base streak began), tied for the sixth-most in the league in that time, ranking ninth with a .449 on-base percentage.
- RHP Nick Garcia threw a scoreless seventh inning on Thursday, lowering his season ERA to 2.98…Garcia has not allowed a run in 14 of his last 17 outings, dating back to June 25, and has allowed more than one earned run just once in that time…among Triple-A pitchers with at least 15 appearances since June 25, Garcia’s 2.08 ERA is the fifth-best in the circuit, while his 29 strikeouts are the fourth-best.