Bryce Rainer’s run of five straight games with a home run finally hit a wall Friday night in South Bend, Indiana, but the Tigers prospect still found a way to force the Whitecaps’ opponents to pitch around him.
Rainer, who had homered in each of his previous five games, went 1-for-2 with a single and a strikeout in West Michigan’s 7-5 loss. He also drew three walks, and his final chance to keep the streak alive ended the way a lot of dangerous nights do for dangerous hitters: with four balls in the ninth inning.
Homer in five consecutive games, and all of a sudden, they start pitching you like Barry Bonds.
Go figure.
That streak had already rewritten the Whitecaps record book before Friday. Rainer opened the power surge with a home run on Friday, Aug. 14, at LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park against Lansing, then kept it rolling the next day and again the day after that. After an off day, he picked it back up Tuesday, Aug. 18, to tie the franchise mark with homers in four straight games, then broke it outright the following night.
West Michigan gave him Thursday, Aug. 20, off before sending him back out Friday.
The 21-year-old has 16 home runs this season, with 15 of them coming for the Whitecaps and an .866 OPS attached to that production. Before this five-game burst, the longest homer streak of his pro career was two games, and he had done that twice. The three walks Friday matched the second-most he has had in a game, and he previously walked four times earlier this season.
Rainer was the Tigers’ first-round pick in 2024, going No. 11 overall, and MLB Pipeline has him ranked as Detroit’s No. 3 prospect. He started the year at Low-A Lakeland before earning a quick April promotion to West Michigan.
Whether Double-A Erie is next in 2026 remains to be seen, with the season potentially too far along for another jump.
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