Milone tosses five scoreless innings, Triple-A Tacoma wins home opener by seven runs
Rainiers lefty Tommy Milone hurled five scoreless frames and the offense remained hot in Triple-A Tacoma’s home-opening, 12-5 win on Tuesday night at Cheney Stadium.
Catcher Brian O’Keefe and designated hitter Mike Ford each blasted three-run home runs to right field and Tacoma continued its onslaught of runs, now having plated 40 runs in four games this season.
“I think we’ve showed we can score some runs,” Rainiers manager John Russell said. “In talking to some of the guys today … they’re excited to be home.”
O’Keefe’s blast went the opposite way and opened scoring in the third inning, already the third homer of his young, 2023 season. It plated new Rainiers Jose Caballero and Cesar Hernandez who reached earlier in the inning via walks.
Tacoma’s catcher found a middle-middle fastball offered by Reno starter Peter Solomon and did not miss.
“My swing feels really good right now,” O’Keefe said. “Even in camp, I felt really good throughout the course of spring training. To come out and put it together at the start of the season has been awesome.”
Tacoma played add-on in the fourth. First baseman Colin Moran ripped a leadoff single to left and outfielder Delino DeShields subusequently reached, perhaps fortunately, on a fielding error by Reno third baseman Emmanuel Rivera.
Rivera bobbled a tailor-made, 5-4-3 double play that allowed both Moran and DeShields to stay put, the former in scoring position.
Reno turned to the bullpen rather unsuccessfully when Aces reliever Austin Brice failed control the floodgates. A short outing began with six consecutive balls thrown, and soon after, Rainiers shortstop Mason McCoy was hit by a pitch to plate another run.
But the Aces’ nightmarish fourth inning wasn’t over, nor was it close. A ball passed Reno catcher Dominic Mirogilo and allowed DeShields to score — upping Tacoma’s lead to five — and Rivera later made a second throwing error at third base to keep the inning alive.
The Rainiers led, 6-0, but were only halfway through a torrential fourth frame. Ford followed with a three-run homer to right, also his third of the season. It was 9-0.
Tacoma plated 37 runs through the first 31 innings of its 2023 season, and 40 runs through four games.
Milone chuckled. “I didn’t know it was 40 runs,” he said, clearly surprised at the number. “It makes sense. (They’re) just looking for good pitches.”
O’Keefe finished 2-for-5 with a home run, three RBI, and five total bases — Tacoma’s only multi-hit performance Tuesday. Ford’s home run tallied three RBIs, and McCoy plated two runs without registering a hit.
Tacoma scored a dozen runs on just four hits. Reno walked 12 Rainier hitters and allowed a pair to reach on Rivera’s throwing errors in the fourth.
Milone, meanwhile, was brilliant, tossing five scoreless innings in his season debut.
Unlikely to blow the fastball past hitters, Milone made up for it with command. The 36-year-old rarely walks opponents and mixes a four-seam fastball and changeup, primarily. Sliders and curveballs make infrequent appearances, but Milone induces weak contact and high chase rates.
“My fastball command, right away, was on-point,” Milone said in the clubhouse, as 5,172 in attendance enjoyed the first of several firework shows at Cheney Stadium this season. “The biggest thing for me is my changeup, throwing that for a strike. When I can throw strikes, it puts the hitters in swing mode… then, you can work off of the plate and get swings-and-misses.”
Milone struck out the game’s first two batters and retired the first five. He tossed five shutout frames, allowing two hits and one walk with five strikeouts. He threw 75 pitches, 52 for strikes.
“(I) try not to over-do it,” he said. “I just try to stay within my game. … I try to stay mentally within myself. Just keep attacking.
“I want that reputation that I’m going to go out there and be the same guy… every time.”
Said O’Keefe, who caught Milone’s gem: “It’s fun catching him when he’s like that. It’s almost like playing MLB The Show. Any pitch, any count, any location. He (was) absolutely fantastic.”
Reno avoided a shutout in the seventh. Center fielder Dominic Fletcher lasered a ball to the right-center gap which plated two runs and cut Tacoma’s deficit to seven, 9-2.
But the Rainiers got those runs right back and then some. Reno walked six straight batters with two outs in the seventh, which plated three runs and extended Tacoma’s lead to double-digits.
Reno designated hitter P.J. Higgins lined a run-scoring double to right field in the eighth off familiar Tacoma lefty Justus Sheffield.
Miroglio plated another Reno run with a two-out, RBI single before Sheffield could exit, and Rivera plated one more with a run-scoring single in the ninth.
Reno out-hit Tacoma, 8-4, albeit outscored by seven runs.
Tuesday’s win evened the Rainiers’ record at 2-2.
NEW SKIPPER IN T-TOWN
It was always Russell’s dream to return to professional baseball. It came true in January, when the Rainiers named him Tacoma’s newest skipper.
A 10-year playing veteran and Pittsburgh’s manager from 2008-10, Russell is the 12th manager in the Rainiers era and made his home managerial debut at Cheney Stadium on Tuesday night.
“Opening nights are always fun for everybody,” he said before the game, “so our players are looking forward to it.”
Russell was a first-round selection by the Phillies in 1982 and played for Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Texas across 10 major league seasons from 1984-93. A catcher, he appeared in 448 major league games (nearly 1,000 total professional games) and caught Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan’s sixth no-hitter on June 11, 1990.
Then came a three-year stint managing the Pirates. From 2011-18, Russell served as a bench coach for the Orioles and reached the postseason three times, including the 2014 American League Championship Series.
He’s seen it all.
So what drew him to Tacoma?
“The amount of continuity (the organization) has,” he replied. “Everybody’s on the same page. The direction they’re heading … I think they’re very innovative, and understand the game, and playing it right. That’s what I’m about, too.
“There was a lot that really intrigued me. And I think I brought a lot that really intrigued them.”
Russell debuted as the Rainiers’ skipper last Friday, a 14-8 victory over Oklahoma City in the season opener. Born in Oklahoma City, friends and family attended to watch Russell’s first professional managerial game in 13 years, coincidentally in his hometown.
“Any time you can get back to some of your roots, it’s always good,” Russell said.
Tim Federowicz, Tacoma’s manager in 2022, joined Detroit’s organization as the Tigers’ catching coach for the 2023 season.
Seattle turned to Russell, who has plenty of experience. He most recently served as the baseball technical director at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, since 2019. He enjoyed the so-called professional “step back” and was able to coach and watch his son, Stone — a privilege previously unattainable. The infielder committed to the University of Florida and could be selected in this summer’s MLB Draft.
What drew Russell from Florida was Seattle’s phone call, and an offer the 62-year-old couldn’t refuse.
“I was very excited,” he said. “I think it was fate that it happened.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2023 at 9:57 PM with the headline "Milone tosses five scoreless innings, Triple-A Tacoma wins home opener by seven runs."
