RENO, Nev. – Battling the weather in the early part of the series, the Reno Aces hung tough with the Sacramento River Cats but failed to get the results they were aiming for. However, the Aces improved over the course of the week along with the weather and won games in exciting fashion, coming within two outs of a series split with the first-place River Cats.
Reno completed a comeback attempt on May 26, tying the game in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single from Tyler Locklear. However, extra-innings were again unkind to the Aces as it was the River Cats pulling out a 10-6 win in 10 innings.
After a tough first inning, starter Thomas Hatch settled in and allowed just one more unearned run, finishing his day with two earned runs allowed (three total) on six hits over six innings with a strikeout. That marked the second consecutive quality start for the Aces, the first of the season for Hatch. It was the first time that Reno has had back-to-back quality starts since Spencer Giesting and Dylan Ray did so on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23 of last season.
One of the primary reasons that Reno tied the contest in the ninth was due to Kristian Robinson, singled to open the inning and then stole second base. Though he had to wait for two batters, Locklear eventually delivered a two-out RBI knock into center that knotted the contest.
Though they allowed seven runs in the top of the inning, the bottom of the frame still had a highlight as Angel Ortiz hit a home run in his Triple-A debut, a three-run blast of 415 feet. That made Ortiz the third Ace to homer in his Triple-A debut this season along with Christian Cerda and Danny Serretti, and the fourth to do it in his Aces debut this season when factoring in Locklear.
Five straight two-out hits in the third inning helped the Aces snatch an early lead on May 27, but it evaporated by the game’s end as the River Cats stormed back for a 12-5 victory.
Highlighting those five knocks were an RBI single from Luis Urías while the duo of Locklear and Ortiz earned RBI on respective doubles to center and left field.
Eight of nine Aces recorded hits in the game but only LuJames Groover and Locklear ended their night with a trio of hits, the second straight multi-hit game for both Aces. Both scored once and doubled, though Locklear had two RBI to the one of Groover.
After grabbing control in the bottom of the first on May 28, Reno saw Sacramento score in three straight frames during the middle innings to secure a 7-2 win in game three of the series.
Robinson and Urías each earned the way aboard in the first and together executed a double steal, putting two in scoring position for a Locklear RBI single to right for his third straight game with an RBI. The Aces scored just once more in the contest courtesy an Andrew Velazquez single in the seventh.
Starter Kohl Drake surrendered four runs on 10 hits, marking just the second time in his career that he has allowed 10 or more hits in a start.
For the second time in the series the two teams needed extras to decide a winner, as Reno erased an early 2-0 deficit on May 29 to force extra frames where they earned their first extra-innings victory since April 24 behind Jacob Amaya’s walk-off homer leading to a 5-3 win in 11 frames.
It was a pinch-hit home run from Luken Baker that tied the game, leading off the seventh with the second-longest home run by an Ace this season at 457 feet. That was Reno’s first pinch-hit home run in over a calendar year since May 9, 2025 when Aramis Garcia hit a two-run pinch hit homer in the ninth inning against Las Vegas.
Playing the hero was Amaya, as his team-leading sixth homer of the season gave the Aces a 5-3 walk-off victory. That was the first walk-off dinger in Amaya’s career as well as the 26th in Aces history, the first since Trey Mancini hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 7-6 win over Las Vegas.
The Reno bullpen was excellent throughout the game as they combined to allow only a single unearned run in the 11th while combining to allow just four hits with 12 strikeouts. It was just the 11th time that Aces relievers have combined to toss nine or more innings, and the third time of those 11 instances in franchise history that they did not allow an earned run.
Key in that effort was the first relief effort in the career of Tommy Henry, as he entered in the fourth and rattled off 4.1 run-free innings with just one hit allowed and six strikeouts. Those six strikeouts were the most in a game by Henry at any level since he struck out seven in four innings on May 28, 2025 as a member of the Diamondbacks against Atlanta.
That sixth and final strikeout marked the 300th in the Aces career of Henry, making him one of just two Aces (and the first left-hander) in Reno history to record 300 career strikeouts. The only other to do so in team history is Charles Brewer, who holds the team record with 307 punchouts.
The Aces continued to double their lead from innings two through four, the last frame of which saw a three-run dinger from Urías to put Reno up 6-0, but they had to withstand a late Sacramento comeback attempt that finished in a 6-4 victory for the Aces on May 30.
It was Ortiz who drove home the game’s first run on a double to right field in the second, while Cerda doubled home two more on a liner to center field.
Reno starter Yu-Min Lin was sharp throughout, blanking the River Cats for the first four frames before finally allowing two runs in the fifth. Lin would check out after that frame, yielding those tallies on six hits in five frames with just one walk for his third win of the campaign.
A seesaw series finale came down to the final set of swings, but the back-and-forth May 31 affair saw the Aces’ ninth-inning rally fall just shy as the River Cats snagged the victory by a 13-11 margin.
Both teams combined to score of the final five sets of at-bats, which included Sacramento plating six runs in the top half of the ninth to build a seemingly comfortable lead. However, Reno continued to battle and pulled within two in the home half of the frame. Included in that final set of swings for the Aces was a two-run blast from Matt O’Neill, his fourth of the season.
Sunday marked the third time of the season the Aces faced 2025 PCL Pitcher of the Year Carson Whisenhunt, and on Sunday they finally got to the southpaw for five runs and forced his exit before the end of the fifth frame.
Six different Aces had multi-hit games in the contest, none more than the three from the rehabbing Pavin Smith who also scored once and drove in two during his five trips to the plate. Meanwhile, Groover tallied three RBI on the day with his pair of knocks, and Rojas was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored.
There were seven different Aces that batted over the .300 line, but one of the most impressive was the week from Ortiz. He finished his Triple-A debut series playing in all six games, one of only three Aces position players to see time in every contest, and batted .353 with two runs scored, two doubles, a homer, and a team-high tying five RBI.
Meanwhile, both Locklear and Jack Hurley hit .500 for the week, but only Locklear had five consecutive multi-hit games finished 11-for-24 at the dish with four runs scored, two doubles, and four RBI. Meanwhile, Locklear played in four games and went 4-for-11 with two doubles and two RBI.
On rehab, Smith took the field four times and hit .412 with four runs scored, one double, and a pair of RBI. Out of the bullpen, Andrew Hoffman had a pair of scoreless appearances, working three innings with two hits and two walks allowed to three strikeouts.
The Aces now head south to finish up the Silver State rivalry with the Las Vegas Aviators in a six-game set beginning on Tuesday.