TACOMA, WA (September 12, 2026) — Stuart Fairchild’s solo home run in the eighth inning was the lone run the Tacoma Rainiers (36-32/69-74) tallied Saturday afternoon, falling 4-1 to the El Paso Chihuahuas (23-45/58-85) in the fifth game of the six-game set. Connor Joe turned in a multi-hit effort while Leo Rivas reached three times in five plate appearances, recording one hit and two walks.
El Paso opened the scoring in the top of the third inning. Rosman Verdugo, making his Triple-A debut, pulled a leadoff single into left field. Nick Pratto followed with an RBI double to right-center field, driving in Verdugo. Miguel Andujar then slapped a single to right field, putting runners at the corners. Carlos Rodriguez drove in the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly, giving El Paso a 2-0 lead after three innings.
The Chihuahuas plated another run in the top of the fifth inning. Andujar poked a one-out double, and scored on a double from Marcos Castañon that bounced off the base of the wall in left-center field to make it 3-0.
Gabe Mosser limited the damage to just three runs, logging his career-best 10th quality start of the season. In the top of the sixth inning, Rodolfo Durán hit a leadoff single, but was erased as Stuart Fairchild tracked down a fly ball at the warning track in right-center field and threw back to first to double off Durán.
Stuart Fairchild (6) broke up the shutout bid in the eighth inning, cranking a leadoff home run to left field, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Tacoma got a pair of baserunners with two outs, but left them stranded, trailing by two going into the ninth inning.
El Paso got the run back in the top of the ninth inning. With one out, Pratto hit a single to center field, followed by a double from Bryce Johnson, who replaced Andujar. The double, accompanied by a fielding error, brought home Pratto to score and make it 4-1.
The Rainiers entered the bottom of the ninth inning chasing three runs. They were set down in order, falling 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Tacoma will take another shot at securing the series victory in the finale Sunday afternoon, sending RHP Nolan Kingham out to make his second start in the set. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- RHP Gabe Mosser logged his 10th quality start of the season on Saturday, allowing three runs on eight hits over 6.0 innings of work, striking out four…Mosser’s 10 quality starts are a career-high and are tied for the third-most in the minor leagues…his quality start was also Tacoma’s 36th of the season, the most in the minor leagues.
- INF Leo Rivas singled to lead off the game Saturday afternoon, extending his on-base streak to 25 games…it’s the second longest on-base streak by a Rainiers hitter this season, trailing Joe’s 26-game streak (July 28-August 29)...since the streak started on May 22, Rivas holds a .467 OBP…it his longest on-base streak since he reached safely in 30 straight games from June 14,-July 21, 2024.
- INF Andy Ibáñez extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the third inning on Saturday, becoming the fourth Rainiers hitter to tally a 10-game hitting streak this season…over his 10-game streak, Ibáñez is hitting .370 (17x46) with a double and home run…the 10-game streak is the fifth-longest active streak in the PCL.
- OF Stuart Fairchild was credited with his third outfield assist with Tacoma on Saturday initiating a double play…the assist was Tacoma’s 14th outfield assist since July 1, tied for the second-most in Triple-A trailing only Albuquerque’s 16 in that time.