The Tacoma Rainiers scored four runs in the ninth inning Saturday and beat the El Paso Chihuahuas 7-3.
The win clinched the 2021 Triple-A West championship for the Rainiers, who are now guaranteed to have the best regular season record among the 10 teams in the league.
El Paso’s Jose Azocar went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the loss. One of Azocar’s hits was his seventh triple of the year, which is tied for the most in Triple-A baseball, even though Azocar has appeared in only 36 Triple-A games.
Taylor Kohlwey went 2-for-4 with an RBI, moving his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. Kohlwey has reached base multiple times in each of his last 12 starts.
Chihuahuas shortstop Matt Batten went 2-for-4 and stole his 24th base of the season, which is the second-most in Triple-A West.
El Paso starter Jesse Scholtens struck out the 500th batter of his minor league career in the fourth inning. Chihuahuas infielder Ivan Castillo was ejected in the top of the seventh inning after arguing a call at third base.
Next Game: Sunday at 6:05 p.m. at Southwest University Park. Tacoma RHP Logan Verrett (10-3, 5.03) vs. El Paso RHP Adrian Martinez (0-2, 6.28).
The game will air on 600 ESPN El Paso and www.epchihuahuas.com.
Tacoma 7 El Paso 3 – Saturday | Box Score | Team Records: Tacoma (72-45), El Paso (44-73)
WP: Mills (4-1) | LP: Markel (3-2) | S: None | Time: 3:24 | Attn: 7,773
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