Tacoma Rainiers 2-3 Salt Lake Bees
Pacific Coast League Pacific Conference
Cheney Stadium
Sunday July 22nd 2018
Our American adventure continues with something a little different. Widely referred to as America’s National Pastime, this is my first experience of a live baseball game. Just fourteen miles from my in-laws’ house, it seems like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
The Venue
Cheney Stadium was first constructed in 1960, and was built in just 42 days. The speed of the project was necessitated by the proclamation by the San Francisco Giants that they would move their AAA class affiliate to Tacoma if the town had a stadium ready for the start of the 1960 season. The stadium has hosted AAA teams in the PCL continuously since 1960, with the Rainiers becoming the tenants back in 1995. The stadium is also home to the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders reserve team, playing in the USL.
The stadium was fully renovated in 2011 and currently has a seated capacity for 6,500 spectators, with unreserved standing areas taking the capacity to well over 7,000. Most spectators are housed in banked seating concentrated around the diamond, while there are luxury suites that offer spectacular views over the ballpark. There are also party decks and a large grassed area for spectators located in the outfield. It’s a pretty excellent ground, and boasts some of the closest seats to the action at any baseball stadium in the country.
Ticket prices do vary, but for every Sunday game during the Rainiers’ season, the club implements the Chick-fil-A Bring the Herd promotion, which means our tickets today were $11 each, and included a meal at the stadium, a voucher for a Chick-fil-A meal and a hat. It’s great to see local clubs partnering with sponsors in this way to try and connect with the locals.
The Teams
Minor League baseball is played in several classes, and works as an organised farm system, theoretically giving a player pathway from the lowest level all the way up to Major League. Triple-A is the highest class, with Double-A, Class A-Advanced and Class A below. There are also short season leagues and designated rookie leagues, but I don’t want to muddy the waters too much with all that information. The Pacific Coast League is one of the two official Triple-A leagues (the International League being the other.) The Mexican League also plays at a Triple-A Standard. Since 2006, the PCL and IL champions play in a one-off Triple-A Championship game. Triple-A teams are affiliated to Major League teams, and can have up to 15 players on their roster who are signed to the MLB team at any time.
The Tacoma Triple-A baseball team originated in 1960, when the San Francisco Giants moved their Phoenix affiliate to the town. They have also been affiliated to the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics before their current affiliation with the Seattle Mariners began in 1995. The 26 miles between Tacoma and Seattle is the shortest distance between any major league team and their Triple-A affiliate. The Rainiers name was adapted in 1995, taking inspiration from the defunct PCL side the Seattle Rainiers and the imposing nearby Mount Rainier.
The side have won the PCL Championship five times (being declared co-champions twice, in 1978 when the playoff with Albuquerque was rained out, and in 2001 when the championship series was cancelled in the wake of 9/11.) Their most recent championship came in 2010, when despite having to play all of their playoff games away from Cheney Stadium due to renovations, they swept Memphis 3-0 in the Championship Series. This season, the Rainiers are in playoff contention, but have lost their last five games and are 6 games back on division leaders Fresno, and will need a strong second half of the season.
The Salt Lake Bees were founded in 1994 as the Salt Lake Buzz, and were originally affiliates on the Minnesota Twins. In 2001, the team changed affiliations to the Los Angeles Angels and their nickname to the Stingers. They became the Salt Lake Bees at the start of the 2006 season, and remain the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate. The Bee related names come from the bee being a long standing symbol of the state of Utah.
The Bees have never won the PCL Championship, but have won the Pacific Conference on four occasions, most recently in 2013. In 2002, Los Angeles’ Angels World Series clinching pitcher John Lackey had played the first few months of the season in Salt Lake before being called up. The Bees have had a fairly good start to the season, and are also in second place in their division, just 1 game back on El Paso. This is the third game of a three game stand between these two teams, with the Bees winning the first two.
The Game
Today’s game has been designated as the annual Pink at the Park day at Cheney Stadium. Tacoma’s players and coaches are wearing special pink jerseys that will be auctioned off following the game to raise funds for the Carol Milgard Breast Center, whose aim is to subsidise mammogram screenings for medically under served women in the South Sound region.
The Rainiers got off to a great start, taking a lead in the first inning, when Ian Miller ran in a run off a single hit from Cameron Rupp. The home side kept the lead until teh fourth inning when Salt lake tied things up. Eric Young Jr’s ground ball to right field allowed Jose Fernandez to get home for the score. In the bottom of the same inning, the home side retook the lead when Seth Majias-Brean’s sacrifice fly allowed Kirk Nieuwenhuis to score.
The Rainiers were looking good but suffered an almost total meltdown in the seventh inning. Starting pitcher Bryan Evans was relieved after six solid innings, but Tacoma’s pitching fell completely by the wayside in his absence. Three separate Tacoma pitchers completed the seventh inning which saw Salt Lake turn in two runs to take their first lead of the game, a lead they would not relinquish. Singles from Joe Hudson and Michael Hermosillo allowed Eric Young Jr. and Ben Revere to score. Tacoma brought in Ryan Garton to pitch the eighth inning, and he had an extremely successful go of it, pitching only 15 times to put three Bees players out.
Despite Garton’s impressive eighth inning, Tyler Higgins replaced him for the ninth. Salt Lake failed to add to their lead and gave Tacoma the chance to try and get something from the game. With runners on first and second with two outs, catcher Cameron Rupp had the chance to be the hero for the home side, but he was unable to muster anything, and was struck out in an anti-climactic finish.
This was my first experience of live baseball, and I really enjoyed myself. Kaitlin’s friend had brought her dad to the game, and he was sitting next to me today. As a relative novice to the game, having a man who has been watching and playing the game for sixty-plus years to tell me what was going on was absolutely wonderful. I had a great day, and I’ll definitely be back to see the Rainiers the next time I’m back in the area.
The Pies
Ok, so no pies, but as part of our ticket package, we got what is known as a “Group Express Meal”. This meal contained the ballpark staples of a hot dog and a bag of Tim’s Cascade “Chips” aka a really fantastic bag of crisps, plus a bottle of water. The hot dog in the meal deal was definitely smaller than the $8 dog that was on offer, but what I’m going to assume was no less tasty. There were so many food options around the concourse areas, and while again it was pretty expensive, it was a really impressive array. A beer at the ballpark is an American institution, and various beers were available for $8. I naturally tried a couple!
Admission: $11 (part of the Chick-fil-A Bring the Herd promotion) (approx. £8.30)
Programme: Free
Pie: Hot Dog: $8 (approx. £6)
Bovril: Soft drink: $4.50 (approx. £3.40) Beer $8 (approx £6)
Attendance: 7,003
Pies on the Terraces 