TACOMA, WA (July 1, 2026) — The Tacoma Rainiers (3-5/36-47) pulled out a 5-4 comeback victory against the Reno Aces (4-4/36-47) on Wednesday night at Cheney Stadium. Connor Joe smoked his third home run of the season while tallying his eighth multi-hit game of the season. Alex Hoppe secured his fifth save of the season, tossing a scoreless ninth inning to close out the win in a game that featured five lead changes.
Tacoma jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Bliss was hit by a pitch, then he stole second base. With two outs, Patrick Wisdom stroked a single to right field that scored Bliss, giving Tacoma the 1-0 lead.
Reno quickly responded in the top of the second inning after a one-out, solo home run off the bat of Jose Fernandez (2), evening the score at one.
The Aces took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Tyler Locklear singled on a line drive to center field and advanced to third base on a ground ball single to left field from Fernandez. Locklear scored on a sacrifice fly from Manuel Pena, giving Reno a 2-1 lead.
Tacoma evened the score in the bottom of the fourth inning when Connor Joe (3) lasered a two-out, solo home run over the left-center field wall, evening the score at two.
The Aces regained the lead in the top of the sixth inning. Tim Tawa drew a walk and advanced to third base on a single to right field by Locklear. Fernandez reached first on a fielder's choice that scored Tawa to put Reno in front 3-2. With two outs, Pena drew a walk and Serretti lined a double to left field that scored Fernadez, giving Reno a 4-2 lead.
Tacoma tallied three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take the lead back. Wisdom drew a leadoff walk, and Victor Labrada singled to left field. Joe smoked a single to center field that scored Wisdom, and advanced Labrada to second to make it a one-run game. Labrada advanced 90 feet on a flyout from Jhonny Pereda. Tacoma evened the ball game with a line drive single to center field from Jakson Reetz that scored Labrada. Blake Rambusch loaded the bases after he singled on a line drive to center field. With two outs, Joe scored on a sacrifice fly from Miles Mastrobuoni, giving Tacoma a 5-4 lead.
Alex Hoppe took the mound in the top of the ninth inning and worked around a one-out single to log his fifth save and secure Tacoma’s 5-4 victory.
Tacoma looks to take a series lead on Thursday night as they send out LHP Jhonathan Díaz for his 17th start of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- John Russell earned his 281st win as the Rainiers’ manager Wednesday night, tying Pat Listach for fourth in franchise history…next on the list is Dave Myers, who won 366 games with Tacoma from 1996-2000…since Russell took the helm for Tacoma in 2023, his 281 wins are the fifth-most in Triple-A.
- INF Patrick Wisdom went 1-for-3 with an RBI single in the first inning, coming on a 3-0 count…Wisdom became the first Rainiers hitter this season to record a hit on a 3-0 count…it’s the first 3-0 base knock for a Tacoma batter since Samad Taylor doubled in the eighth inning on August 23, 2025, against Oklahoma City.
- INF Ryan Bliss improved his batting average to .333 (24x72) and stole his eighth base since June 1 Wednesday night, finishing 1-for-2 with a double, walk, run scored, and stolen base…since the start of June, his stolen base total is tied with INF Blake Rambusch for the fifth-most in the PCL and his batting average ranks 10th-best…since May 1, Bliss has connected on 15 doubles, tied for the third-most in the PCL.
- RHP Alex Hoppe tossed a scoreless ninth inning to secure Wednesday’s win, earning his fifth save of the season…he is now a perfect 5-for-5 in save opportunities with Tacoma, tied for the eighth-most saves in the league…Wednesday marked his ninth consecutive scoreless appearance, the second-longest active streak in the PCL…in Hoppe’s first nine games with the Rainiers, he has allowed only eight baserunners (5H and 3BB) across 9.0 IP while striking out 13 batters.
- INF Blake Rambusch went 2-for-4 out of the ninth-spot in the order…in nine games batting ninth, he leads all Triple-A hitters (min. 30 PA in the ninth spot) with a .441 batting average (15x34) while ranking second with .647 SLG and. 1.133 OPS.