Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Stars’ rally misses mark

After watching his teammates rally from a 7-0 deficit to tie Tacoma after five innings, Las Vegas Stars right-hander Denny Harriger probably did not recognize the team playing behind him.

At the same time, Harriger was equally unfamiliar with the pitcher on the mound as the Rainiers built a seven-run lead on the strength of a pair of three-run home runs. Tacoma scored twice in the eighth inning for a 9-7 win over Las Vegas in the Stars' home opener Tuesday night at Cashman Field.

"The guy who pitched the first three innings -- I don't know who he was," Harriger said, referring to himself. "I hope he doesn't come around anymore. The guy who pitched the last four (innings), that was the Denny Harriger that I know and I hope to continue doing that."

After giving up seven runs on seven hits in the first three innings, Harriger settled down and held the Rainiers to one hit through the next four innings and left with the score tied 7-7.

The Stars' ability to rally from a seven-run deficit and give Harriger a chance at a win after his sluggish start was something the 26-year-old had rarely seen in the past two seasons in Las Vegas.

"To give up seven runs early and have them come back and tie it, these guys here in the locker room deserve a tremendous amount of credit," Harriger said. "Down seven runs in the third inning, they could have just said, 'Aw, well, this game's over, we'll get 'em tomorrow,' but they didn't.

"They went right up to the plate hacking, got some base hits and came back and tied the game. To me, that's something that last year's team really wasn't capable of doing."

Tacoma scored four runs in the first inning on a three-run, opposite-field home run by Greg Pirkl and a run-scoring ground out by James Bonnici. Bonnici gave the Rainiers a 7-0 advantage when he took Harriger deep for a three-run homer in the third.

"I think it was a combination of me trying too hard and being a little nervous in the home opener," Harriger said. "I can't really pinpoint it ... I guess I was just trying too hard and I got a couple pitches up and they were hit out of the park."

The Stars pecked away at Tacoma's lead with a two-run double by Paul Russo in the third and an RBI single by Luis Lopez in the fourth. Las Vegas tied the score in the fifth after loading the bases with no outs against Rainiers starter Mike Butcher.

Jason Thompson led off the inning with his second double of the game and Butcher hit Mike Sharperson and walked Ira Smith to load the bases. Butcher then walked Russo to force in a run.

Trey Witte (1-0) replaced Butcher on the mound and gave up an RBI single to Craig Colbert. When the ball got past Tacoma left fielder Brian Hunter for an error, Sharperson scampered home to make it 7-6. After a sacrifice bunt by Homer Bush advanced the runners to second and third, Doug Dascenzo tied the score with a run-scoring grounder to first.

"A lot of good things happened today -- a lot of good things," said Stars manager Jerry Royster. "It's hard to come back from seven runs down. Usually you need some help from the opposition by them kicking some balls or throwing some balls away, but that didn't happen. We just worked our way back."

But not all the way back. Andrew Berumen (0-1) replaced Harriger to start the eighth inning and the Rainiers loaded the bases on a walk and two singles. Berumen got Bonnici to hit a weak grounder to first and Thompson threw out the runner at the plate.

Hard-throwing left-hander Ron Villone took over for Berumen and hit Raul Ibanez to force in the go-ahead run, then walked Chris Widger to give the Rainiers a 9-7 lead.

The Stars threatened in the bottom of the eighth as Dascenzo led off the inning with a single, but he was picked off. Lopez followed with a single but Riccardo Ingram hit into an inning-ending double play.

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