The Sacramento River Cats played catch up with the Tacoma Rainiers in their game on Thursday night. Tacoma began their scoring with an early rally on the top of the second inning when the Rainiers’ Carlos Peguero singled to center field. Vinnie Catricala reached first on a fielding error by the River Cats’ Brandon Hicks and Peguero reached third. Mike Wilson hit his fourth homer of the season and the Rainiers took a 3-0 lead. At the bottom the third the River Cats began a short rally after a Hicks pop out and a Wes Timmons ground out. With two outs Jermaine Mitchell singled to second base. As Grant Green came to bat, Mitchell stold his 10th base of the season and moved to second. Gree

The Sacramento River Cats (10-3) were able to extend their winning streak to four as they defeated the Tacoma Rainiers (4-8) 5-1 at Raley Field Tuesday night. Right fielder Michael Taylor continued his strong start to the season, recording two doubles and a walk on four at-bats. Taylor entered the game batting .413 with one home run and 11 runs batted in. Taylor's .413 batting average heading into Tuesday night's game was ranked seventh in the Pacific Coast League. “I feel good at the plate,” he said. “I feel comfortable with everything I’ve worked on in the offseason coming into this season, and I’ve stuck to that plan and process, and right now things are going well. I’m swinging the b

The River Cats lost to the Tacoma Rainiers 2-1 in final inning of Wednesday’s 10-inning game. This was the second game in the River Cats four-game series against the Rainiers. The River Cats won the previous game Tuesday 5-1. The sun shone off and on through the partially cloudy sky, and the 68-degree temperature made the stadium a comfortable place to sit and watch the game. Fans were smiling and cheering the entire time. The first inning appeared promising for the River Cats after Rainier shortstop Carlos Triunfel’s interference at bat caused the first out of the game. The interference also sent center fielder Trayvon Robinson back to first after his attempt to steal second and third.

Though coming high off an 11-4 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers Saturday evening, the Sacramento River Cats were unable to repeat the strong lead needed to keep the visitors from getting their third win in the fourth and final game, losing 4-0. The sun was shining brightly Sunday afternoon and with the slight breeze, the 80-some-degree weather felt pleasant, especially when compared to the recent gray and rainy fits. Fans wore smiles and seemed to be enjoying themselves, as were a number of dogs out that day for Raley Field’s Bark in the Ballpark event, some of whom pranced in a pre-game dog parade around the field. Post-parade, River Cats pitcher A.J. Griffin made his first start at the

Lenny DiNardo knows what it takes to be in the bigs again. He just has to try and adjust. You see, usually by 31 years of age, a pitcher will start losing something off his fastball and may even need to retool himself to stay in the game he loves so much. This is that precise moment in time DiNardo is in, and River Cats pitching coach Scott Emerson is helping him down that bumpy road. “He’s a different pitcher than he was 10 years ago,” Coach Emo said. “The velocity is a lot less, so he’s got to learn a different type of style. That style is throwing a bunch of strikes at the bottom of the zone and changing speeds.” On Thursday evening at Raley Field, DiNardo was not able to keep the ba

"The coldest winter I ever spent was … Thursday night at Raley Field" –Mark Twain (would have said had he been at the game last night) Your Sacramento River Cats opened their 2011 campaign on Thursday night, hosting the Tacoma Rainiers at the Frozen Tundra formerly known as Raley Field. To the delight of the home fans, who came out in droves in spite of the less than ideal (straight up Arctic?) conditions, the River Cats came out swinging, pounding out all 13 of their hits and six of their runs in the first five innings before coasting the rest of the way to a 6-2 victory. After the team wasted a pair of first-inning singles by Erik Sogard and Chris Carter, the bottom half of the River C

The Sacramento River Cats’ play has paralleled with the heat in the last week, with the team winning five straight games. The Tacoma Rainiers came into town Saturday and were on pace to leave Sacramento winless, but fortunately for them, the River Cats found themselves down early and were unable to show off any of the late magic that was displayed the night before. The Tacoma Rainiers were 40-38 coming into the mid-day game against the River Cats, who have found themselves 41-38 and seven games out of first place in the PCL South Division. On the mound the Rainiers had the early advantage, as their starter Luke French was currently 8-2 with a 2.27 ERA. French leads his team in wins a

 When you think of the River Cats, dogs may be the last thing on your mind. But for their fourth annual "Bark in the Ballpark" event on Sunday afternoon, it was the first thing on the minds of many dog owners. By paying for an extra dog ticket, they were able to bring their favorite pooches into the lawn area for the game. “It’s just an event we wanted to offer to our fans and dog lovers,” media relations director Rebecca Brutlag said.   Before the game, owners were able to parade their dogs on the field as part of the costume contest. While the aerobics instructor dog got a lot of attention on the lawn, the bumble bee pup won the goodie bag, complete with tickets to a future River Cats

The Sacramento River Cats return to Raley Field holding a six-game winning streak. Sacramento will face the Tacoma Rainiers in a four-game series that opens Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. The Rainiers continue on the road after taking three of four games from the Las Vegas 51s. Sacramento took three of four games from Tacoma when the teams last faced off April 12-15. The Cats had 38 hits in the season opening series, compared to the Rainiers’ 23. A costly overthrown ball in the final game of the series gave Tacoma a narrow 2-1 win against the Cats. Matt Watson, well known in Raley Field history for his homer in the 2005 All-Star Game, has proved once again that he’s a major asset to the Cats