This is a press release courtesy of the Portland Beavers

Jeff Clement went 2-for-4 and led a four-homer attack in support of Ryan Rowland-Smith as the Tacoma Rainiers downed the Portland Beavers 5-3 Thursday night at Cheney Stadium.

Clement doubled and was one of four Rainiers to hit solo homers – Prentice Redman, Bryan LaHair and Brad Nelson were the others – as Tacoma beat Portland for the seventh straight time at home. Callix Crabbe had a double and an RBI triple to supply the other run.

Mike Baxter, Craig Stansberry, Chad Huffman and Sean Kazmar all had a pair of hits on the night to lead the Beavers. Portland tallied 11 hits on the evening but left 12 men on base and six in scoring position.

Ryan Rowland-Smith (2-3) gave Rainiers manager Daren Brown a solid effort, scattering eight hits over 5 1/3 innings while allowing just one run.

Beavers starter Will Inman (0-4) served up three home runs but allowed only four runs in his 5 1/3 innings of work. Inman gave up 10 hits in all, striking out five and walking two.

Redman wasted no time in grabbing a lead for the Rainiers, depositing Inman’s fourth pitch of the game over the wall in left field.

Tacoma added runs in the fourth and fifth with an RBI triple by Crabbe and Clement‘s solo homer, respectively.

The Beavers got on the board in the sixth when Kazmar hit a double to move Drew Macias to third and Macias crossed the plate on a wild pitch by Eric Hull.

Nelson got the run right back with a solo shot to right-center in the bottom half of the sixth.

The Beavers then scored a pair of runs on a sacrifice fly by Val Pascucci and an RBI single by Huffman in the top of the seventh to inch to within one.

But LaHair added an insurance run with a solo blast to right to lead off the home seventh.

Randy Messenger got the final four outs for his 15th save of the season and second of the series.

The Beavers and Rainiers will meet again Friday night, 7 p.m., at Cheney Stadium.

NOTES: Brett Dowdy made his first start in left field this season and has now started at five positions (all three outfield spots, second base and third base) … the three homers allowed by Inman matches the Beavers’ season high, set by Matt Buschmann, April 21 vs. Sacramento … Baxter has collected two hits in 10 of his 24 games as a Beaver … Portland got a pinch-single for the second straight night as Vincent Sinisi singled up the middle in the eighth; Peter Ciofrone singled as a pinch-hitter Wednesday night.