LAS VEGAS, NV (July 7, 2026) — The Tacoma Rainiers (4-9/37-51) fell 9-5 in the series opener against the Las Vegas Aviators (10-3/54-32) on Tuesday night at Las Vegas Ballpark. Patrick Wisdom connected on his 20th home run of the season, giving Tacoma early offense, but the Aviators plated a run in six of their eight at-bats to take the first game of the series. Michael Arroyo and Lazaro Montes went hitless in their Triple-A debuts.
Tacoma’s offense hit the ground running as Ryan Bliss slapped a leadoff single to right-center field. Michael Arroyo, making his Triple-A debut, reached on an error to the third baseman Tommy White and Wisdom (20) capitalized, cracking a three-run home run to deep left-center field, putting Tacoma on top 3-0.
The Aviators got one run back in the bottom of the frame. Nick Hull walked the first two batters he faced and a groundout from White pushed the two into scoring position. Joey Meneses hit a sacrifice fly to left-center field to drive in Las Vegas’ first run, making it 3-1.
Las Vegas chipped away further in the bottom of the second inning, getting it done with two outs. Hull retired the first two batters of the frame before surrendering a double to Drew Swift down the left field line. Bryan Buelvas drove in Swift with a single back up the middle to make it 3-2.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Aviators quickly tied the game. Darell Hernaiz hit a leadoff triple and White hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to drive him in and knot the game at three. Meneses kept things moving with a single to center field and Michael Stefanic walked to put runners at first and second base. Jared Dickey hit a ground ball to first base, but Connor Joe’s throw to second base was wide, going into left field. Meneses scored on the play, and Stefanic moved up to third base and Dickey cruised into second base as Las Vegas took a 4-3 lead. Chad Wallach extended the Aviators’ lead with a sacrifice fly to center field, making it 5-3.
The Aviators hit their fourth sacrifice fly of the game in the fourth inning to pad their lead. Buelvas hit a leadoff double and advanced to third base on a groundout from Cade Marlowe. Hernaiz made it a 6-3 game as he hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Buelvas.
The Rainiers got back in on the action in the top of the sixth inning. Spencer Packard hit a one-out single and a wild pitch pushed him to second base. Jhonny Pereda ripped an RBI double down the left field line to drive in Packard and make it 6-4. With two down, Bliss bounced his third hit of the night into left field to make it a one-run game, 6-5.
Two-out damage hurt Tacoma again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Josh Simpson retired the first two batters he faced, but then gave up a double to White and a two-run home run to Meneses (12), putting Las Vegas up 8-5.
The same went for the bottom of the seventh inning. Swift reached on a one-out single against Gunner Mayer. With two gone, Marlowe whacked a single into center field to drive in Swift and make it a 9-5 game.
In the top of the ninth inning, Tacoma got a pair of runners on with a Victor Labrada double and a Michael Arroyo walk, but could not plate another run, dropping the series opener 9-5. The Rainiers look to even the series on Wednesday, with LHP Jhonathan Díaz scheduled to make the start at 7:05 PM.
POSTGAME NOTES:
- INF Patrick Wisdom connected on his 20th home run of the season in the first inning on Tuesday, tied for the second-most in the PCL…his 20 home runs are the most for a Rainiers hitter through the team’s first 88 games since Jake Scheiner hit 22 in the first 88 games of the 2023 season…Wisdom is averaging .124 HR/PA, the best for a minor league hitter (min. 100 PA) in a single season since 2005…Wisdom is the 19th PCL hitter since 2005 to record three 20-homer seasons (also: 2017, 2019).
- INF Ryan Bliss tallied his fifth three-hit game of the season on Tuesday, all of which have come since May 20…in that 31-game span, Bliss leads the Rainiers with 41 hits, hitting .301 (41x136) with nine doubles, two triples and three home runs…all three of Bliss’ triples this year have come on the road, tied for the fourth-most on the road in the PCL this season.
- C Jhonny Pereda went 2-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored on Tuesday, extending his on-base streak to 19 games…Pereda ranks fourth among Triple-A catchers (min. 100 PA) with a .309 batting average this season
- The Rainiers gave up four runs on sacrifice flies in Tuesday’s loss, tied for the most in a Triple-A game this season (also: Jacksonville, June 24 vs. Memphis)...it’s just the second time since 2005 that Tacoma has allowed four sacrifice flies in a game (also: May 5, 2023 at Salt Lake).