Rainiers drop low-hitting, 2-1 affair to Nashville Sounds

First Tennessee Park is the Pacific Coast League’s newest ballpark, and it has already developed a reputation as the most pitcher-friendly stadium in the circuit.

The Tacoma Rainiers played their first game at the ballpark on Tuesday night, and they found out how rare hits and runs can be. Tacoma and the Nashville Sounds combined for just seven hits as the Sounds won the game, 2-1.

All of the scoring came at the beginning.

Filling in for scheduled starter Cody Martin, who was called up by Seattle and is scheduled to start for the Mariners on Wednesday, Forrest Snow was wild in the first inning.

Snow walked the leadoff batter, allowed an infield single, then issued another walk to load the bases with one out. Matt McBride drove in a run with a line drive single to left, keeping the bases loaded.

After striking out Joey Wendle for the second out, Snow hit Rangel Ravelo with a pitch to force in another run and make it 2-0.

That would be the end of Snow’s control problems. He retired the next 15 batters in a row, finishing the game with 5 2/3 innings pitched and two runs allowed, on two hits and two walks.

“Snow wasn’t very smart in the first inning,” Tacoma manager Pat Listach said. “But he settled down and got into a rhythm after that, and gave us a chance to win the game. We just didn’t put up any offense tonight.”

But Tacoma couldn’t get any offense going, save for one modest rally in the second inning.

Facing rehabilitating Oakland A’s starter Jesse Hahn, James Ramsey doubled to left-center with one out in the second inning. With two outs, Jesus Sucre walked, and Tyler Smith grounded a double down the right field line to score Ramsey and make it 2-1.

The Rainiers did get plenty of baserunners the rest of the game, mostly on walks: Tacoma drew six walks while collecting four hits. But the Rainiers were unable to advance any runners to third base before there were two outs in an inning, and they left eight runners on base during the game.

“We didn’t hit many balls hard, and they didn’t either,” Listach said. “We’ll see how this park plays.”

Short Hops

Catcher Rob Brantly (sprained ankle) was placed on the seven-day disabled list, retroactive to Monday. … Catchers Marcus Littlewood and P.J. Jones were transferred from Double-A Jackson. Littlewood hit .307 with no homers, 23 RBIs and a .404 on-base percentage in 56 games for Jackson.

On Tap

Jarrett Grube (1-2, 3.97 ERA) draws the start for Tacoma in the daytime heat on Wednesday, with first pitch set for 10:05 a.m. (PDT). Nashville is slated to start lefty Dillon Overton (10-5, 3.51). The game can be heard on 850-AM.

This story was originally published August 16, 2016 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Rainiers drop low-hitting, 2-1 affair to Nashville Sounds."