RENO, NV (July 23, 2026) — Carson Fulmer was in total control on Thursday night as the Tacoma Rainiers (11-13/44-55) rolled to a 7-2 victory over the Reno Aces (13-11/45-54) at Greater Nevada Field. Fulmer dealt 6.0 innings of shutout baseball, scattering seven hits, walking one and striking out five to earn his fourth win with the Rainiers. Brock Rodden tallied a three-hit game, crushing his 13th home run of the season in the ninth inning, while Lazaro Montes and Jhonny Pereda each recorded multi-hit games in the victory.
The Rainiers got off to a quick start on Thursday night, plating three runs in the opening frame. With one out, Rodden poked his second triple of the season to the left-center gap and Michael Arroyo gave Tacoma an early lead with a bloop single to center field, putting the Rainiers up 1-0. The next batter, Lazaro Montes, hustled out a double in the right-center alley, putting two in scoring position. Connor Joe cashed in, slapping a two-run single to right field to give Tacoma a 3-0 lead.
Tacoma gave Fulmer more run support in the top of the sixth inning. Miles Mastrobuoni, in his first game back with Tacoma, worked a leadoff walk. Jhonny Pereda cranked a ground-rule double to right-center field, putting two in scoring position. Victor Labrada followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, driving in Mastrobuoni, extending the lead to 4-0. Two pitches later, Spencer Packard (5) connected on a two-run home run, padding Tacoma’s lead at 6-0.
Fulmer was able to work around traffic as he completed six shutout innings for the second time in his eight starts with Tacoma. The right-hander stranded a runner at third base in the first inning, worked around a leadoff single in the third, thanks to an inning-ending double play, and danced around a pair of doubles in the fifth inning, aided by Manuel Pena running into an out between second and third base. He left runners in scoring position in three of the six innings.
Reno, though, cracked through in the bottom of the seventh inning as Charlie Beilenson took over in relief. Matt O’Neill reached on an infield single, then Kristian Robinson (8) hit a two-run homer to left-center field, getting Reno on the board at 6-2. Josh Simpson was the next man out of the bullpen, coming in with two outs and a runner on to face the left-handed Pena, striking him out to finish the frame.
Tacoma tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth inning when Rodden (13) connected on a solo home run to make it 7-2.
Alex Hoppe recorded the final four outs of the game for Tacoma, locking down the victory.
The Rainiers aim to win their third game of the series and secure at least a split in Reno with a win tomorrow. Casey Lawrence is slated to toe the rubber for Tacoma with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 PM.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- RHP Carson Fulmer threw 6.0 shutout innings in the start on Thursday, his second quality start of the season, with the previous being July 4 against Reno, which was also the last time he threw 6.0 shutout innings…Fulmer is the second Rainiers pitcher to record multiple starts of at least 6.0 scoreless innings, joining RHP Casey Lawrence, who has done it three times…Fulmer has also logged at least 6.0 innings in each of his last four starts, the third Rainiers pitcher to accomplish the feat this season, joining RHP Randy Dobnak (May 27-June 13) and RHP Casey Lawrence (2x, last: June 18-July 5)…Fulmer and Lawrence are the only two Rainiers pitchers this season to accomplish the feat against the same team (Lawrence at Salt Lake on May 20, June 18).
- OF Spencer Packard connected on his fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning on Thursday night, Tacoma’s ninth of the season out of the ninth spot in the order, tied for the second-most in the PCL and the eighth-most in Triple-A…Tacoma’s nine batters rank second in the circuit with a .278 batting average and third with a .367 OBP.
- C Jhonny Pereda went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles on Thursday, boosting his batting average with Tacoma to .331…Pereda’s .331 average is the second-best for a Tacoma catcher since 2005 (min. 100 PA), trailing only the .349 (51x146) that David Freitas hit in 2018…Thursday marked Pereda’s second time in the last week hitting two doubles, tying his career-high for the 10th time…Pereda’s 18 hits in July rank third among Triple-A catchers, trailing only the 19 by Worcester’s Mickey Gasper and the 20 by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s J.C. Escarra.
- OF Lazaro Montes went 2-for-3 with a double on Thursday and has now tallied a hit in five of his last six games…in that time, Montes is hitting .333 (8x24) with five doubles and two home runs…in that time, Montes has an average exit velocity of 93.6 mph, good for fifth in the PCL (min. 20 PA).