MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - TACOMA, Wash. – Brandon Morrow allowed just one hit in six innings of work and Kevin Howard recorded two hits and scored a run as the Tacoma Rainiers defeated the Portland Beavers 5-1 on Sunday at Cheney Stadium.

Morrow (1-2) assembled another lights-out performance against Portland striking out five hitters and allowed just a single hit over six scoreless innings to pick up his first win of the season with Tacoma. Over his last two outings against the Beavers, Morrow has allowed only two runs on three hits and recorded 12 strike outs in 10 2/3 innings.

Tacoma (79-64) received at least one hit from eight of its nine position players to manufacture all five runs and capture its seventh straight win over the Beavers. Only one of the Rainiers’ 10 hits went for extra bases.

Chip Ambres broke up the shutout in the ninth inning with his 22nd home run of the season and Vincent Sinisi extended his hitting streak to four games with a pair of hits to lead the Beavers (70-73).

Justin Germano (2-9) surrendered all five runs on 10 hits through five innings of work for the loss. It was his third loss in three straight appearances.

Portland’s Peter Ciofrone did not record a hit against Tacoma on Sunday to end his string of 30 consecutive road games with a hit. But, he did extended his streak of reaching base in consecutive road games to 38 when he was hit by a pitch in the eighth inning.

The Rainiers took an early lead on a RBI double by Jon Nelson in the third inning. Tacoma then capitalized on back-to-back base hits an inning later from Rob Johnson and Howard to build a 3-0 advantage. In the fifth inning, Tacoma assembled two more runs on singles by Matt Tuiasosopo, Shawn Garrett and Craig Wilson push their lead to five runs.

The Beavers play their final game of the 2008 season on Monday against the Rainiers at 1:30 p.m. in Tacoma.

NOTES: Paul McAnulty was 1-for-3 on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to five games … Portland has dropped 10 of their last 12 games … Sunday’s game was one of the Beavers’ shortest nine-inning games of the season at 2:09.

 

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