Happy Sunday! Sunday’s are Week In Review days around here, so let’s get to it.

The Round Rock series started with an early game on Tuesday, and the Rainiers were trying to survive a sudden rash of roster moves involving the pitching staff.

Wednesday marked the start of a stretch of night games played in pleasant weather, which allows the players to get into a comfortable routine.

Forced into a bullpen game because of more Mariners pitching issues at the major league level, the Rainiers responded with a six-pitcher shutout on Wednesday night.

Easton McGee followed the shutout with the team’s best start of the season, but Tacoma’s offense was limited and the Rainiers lost in ten innings on Thursday, 2-1.

The offense struggled again in a loss on Friday, causing me to write a silly post about sleeping bats. It worked, by the way: the team scored big last night. Tacoma can get a split of the Round Rock series with a win today.

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The Rainiers fly back to Tacoma on Monday, and on Tuesday the team opens a six-game series against the El Paso Chihuahuas with a 6:05 game. Our next blog post will come on Tuesday before the game.

RAINIERS DAILY

YESTERDAY: The Rainiers bats woke up, and it took them three innings to get out of bed, but they sprung into life in the fourth and scored in four straight innings on the way to a 10-2 win at Round Rock on Saturday night. Cesar Hernandez, Zach DeLoach, Mike Ford, Jake Scheiner, Kean Wong, and Pat Valaika each had two hits. Ford’s triple in the fourth inning led to the game’s first run, and Wong’s three-run double in the fifth inning broke the game open. Five pitchers combined to hold the Express to six hits.

TODAY: Tacoma Rainiers (7-6) at Round Rock Express (8-5), 11:05 AM (Pacific).

OPPONENT AFFILIATION: Texas Rangers.

OPPOSING MANAGER: Doug Davis.

SEASON SERIES: Round Rock leads, 3-2.

PITCHERS: RHP Jose Rodriguez (0-0, 0.00) at RHP Robert Dugger (0-1, 14.73)

After a brief stint in the Seattle bullpen, Rodriguez is back in the Tacoma starting rotation.

ROSTER MOVES: Yesterday the Mariners called up infielder Jose Caballero, and designated pitcher Tommy Milone for assignment. Tacoma added infielder Cesar Izturis Jr. and reliever John Creel from extended spring training.

HOT HITTERS: Brian O’Keefe has hit safely in ten of his first 11 games of the season… Mason McCoy reached base safely in 12 of the 13 games he has played in… Pat Valaika has a four-game hitting streak.

OPPONENT NEWS: The Express just won four-of-five in a rain-impacted series at Sugar Land, and they have won six of the last eight games overall… Justin Foscue had his six-game hitting streak end last night… J.P. Martinez has reached base safely in ten straight games… Round Rock has three former Rainiers on its roster, pitchers Jacob Barnes, Robert Dugger and Dominic Leone.

BROADCAST: All games will be broadcast free on a live audio stream which is available right here.

Unfortunately, there is no traditional terrestrial radio station carrying the games at this time.

PCL SCOREBOARD: Follow all league games in real-time with links to broadcasts and Gameday screens right here.

Links:

• Julio Rodriguez was the catalyst as the Mariners beat the Rockies last night.
• Here’s the Times story on Jose Caballero getting his first call-up.
• Sheesh. Fernando Tatis Jr. had four hits including two more homers as El Paso beat Albuquerque, 8-5. He has six homers in seven Triple-A rehab games.
• I, for one, am rooting for the possum that is refusing to allow visiting TV broadcasters to use its nice Oakland home as a “booth.” Squatters rights, and all that. Fun four-minute story from the Mets broadcast.
• If you miss the days of the Sunday national baseball column, the lone substitute I am aware of is the Fangraphs version put together by David Laurila. Nothing Rainiers or Mariners specific this week, just good baseball stuff.