Sacramento Photo Gallery: 'Cats Fall 6-3

SACRAMENTO, CA - The Sacramento River Cats lost their first series of the season when they fell in game four of their set with the Tacoma Rainiers, 6-3. We have photos from the game inside...

The Sacramento River Cats are off to a slow start in their defense of their back-to-back PCL titles. The River Cats fell to 1-3 on the season on Sunday with a 6-3 loss to the Tacoma Rainiers.

Thanks to pitch counts and an extra-inning game on Saturday, Sacramento had only two available pitchers on Sunday - Edgar Gonzalez and Bobby Cramer. Gonzalez got the start. He was hit hard early, allowing a single and a two-run homerun to the first two batters of the game. However, he settled down after that and allowed only four more hits and one more run in five-plus innings. He struck-out six and walked none.

Cramer took over for Gonzalez with a runner on first and no-outs in the sixth. He allowed that runner to score and two more runs to cross the plate, as the River Cats' 3-2 lead transformed into a 5-3 deficit. The game would stay at 5-3 until the ninth, when the Rainiers added an insurance run. Cramer pitched four innings and threw a season-high 85 pitches. He struggled with his command, walking five, but was able to limit the damage with some clutch pitching with runners in scoring position.

On offense, Sacramento was quiet except for in the third inning when they scored all three of their runs. Raul Padron walked to start the inning and he advanced to second on a single by Eric Patterson. Chris Denorfia dropped a sacrifice bunt down, moving the runners to second and third. Matt Carson followed with a run-scoring single. Daric Barton then launched what looked like an RBI double off of the bat. It turned into a loud sacrifice fly when Tacoma centerfielder Prentice Redman made an outstanding diving catch to rob Barton of extra bases. A run did score on the play. Carson would then steal second and came around to score on an infield hit by Jeff Baisley.

Carson and Patterson led the River Cats' offense with two hits a piece. Carson also walked and stole two bases. Cliff Pennington had a pinch-hit double in the ninth. The River Cats were 2-12 with runners in scoring position.

Below are photos from the game.

ALL PHOTOS BY CHRIS LOCKARD/SCOUT.COM