EL PASO, Texas – Yu-Min Lin tossed his second quality start of the season, but this time in ended in a Reno Aces victory as Reno rewarded him with six runs in the fifth leading to an 8-1 win over the El Paso Chihuahuas on Thursday.
Lin (4-4) was sharp throughout, as he allowed just a single run in the bottom of the fifth before checking out after six. Though he only struck out two for the Aces (31-41), Lin issued only one walk and limited the Chihuahuas (33-39) to three total hits and had retired 10 in a row from the second through sixth.
Reno gave Lin run support early, scoring once in each the first and second innings. A throwing error with one out on a batted ball by Tyler Locklear helped the Aces plate the game’s first run, while an A.J. Vukovich homer helped them double the lead in the second. The home run was the third of the season for Vukovich, coming in a full count and traveling 410 feet to left center.
It was the fifth inning when Reno produced their big frame, as each of the first three batters singled with the last an RBI knock by Tim Tawa. An error on a fielder’s choice brought home a run and kept two aboard without an out, and both quickly scored on a double from Locklear that found the gap in right center and rolled all the way to the wall.
Bringing in the final runs was Jose Fernandez, who crushed his first homer in the form of a two-run shot as Locklear also scored.
Those runs and El Paso’s tally in the bottom half were the final scored in the game, as neither team crossed home plate from the sixth inning on. Reno’s bullpen went the final three frames without yielding a run, which included two perfect frames from Spencer Giesting who struck out three of his six hitters faced.
That secured the victory for Lin, his fourth of the season. However, somewhat more impressively it was just the first win for the Aces when receiving a quality start this season, as they were 0-4 in previous such games.
It also snapped a five-game losing streak for Reno, a span that matched their longest of the season.
Eight of nine Aces in the starting lineup had hits, none more than the 3-for-5 effort from Luis Urías who also scored once and drove one in. Both Fernandez and Vukovich homered, the former logging one hit and two RBI while the latter had one RBI and two hits. Of the 14 total hits, only three went for extra bases with the pair of homers and one double from Locklear.
Reno gets on the board in the series for the first time, but they still trail two games to one and will look to level things up when they face El Paso on Friday at 5:35 p.m. PT.