RENO, Nev. – Another close contest came down to the wire and was decided in the final at-bats, but despite the Reno Aces tying the contest in the bottom of the eighth, it was the Salt Lake Bees who secured an 11-10 victory in the series finale on Sunday.
All six games in the set were decided by three runs or fewer, and Sunday was no exception. Locked at 10-10 moving into the ninth frame, the Bees (36-32) found a way to score the game’s final run, using a double from Ryan Nicholson that scored Nelson Rada while Nicholson was thrown out trying to advance to third.
That run spoiled what was a comeback effort from the Aces (30-39), who saw Jose Fernandez knot the game just a half inning prior when he tripled off the wall in center field. It was a continuation of the seesaw nature of the contest, as Kristian Robinson had crushed his sixth big fly of the campaign in the bottom of the seventh that had briefly put Reno in front. However, a pair of two-out runs by Salt Lake in the eighth resulted in the Aces’ need for a big hit late.
One run was scored in four straight sets of at-bats from the bottom of the first through the top of the third, with the Aces snapping the scoreless tie behind a Tim Tawa leadoff home run. That marked the second leadoff homer of the season for Reno, matching Robinson who first did so on May 23 at Oklahoma City.
The Bees matched in similar fashion when Ben Gobbel started the away half of the second with his own solo dinger. After Mat O’Neill drove in a run on a ground ball through the right side to pull the Aces back in front, the game was quickly tied again on a Salt Lake RBI groundout.
Reno had seemingly taken control with a five-spot in the fourth frame, one that was full of action. Jose Fernandez walked and promptly stole two bases, putting him just 90 feet away from home where he scored on a Robinson single into center.
Robinson kept the stolen bag train moving, swiping second base in the very next at-bat. That was just the 23rd time in franchise history that the Aces have stolen three bases in the same inning, the last instance on April 1, 2025 at Tacoma.
Two more walks allowed Reno to keep pressure on, eventually plating two more on a wild pitch from Caden Dana. Tawa picked up another RBI on a groundout in the subsequent at-bat, while Jacob Amaya smashed his team-leading seventh homer of the season when he lifted a solo shot out to right-center field.
Unfortunately for the Aces, Salt Lake got each of those runs back plus one, managing six runs in the top of the fifth. Of the six runs, five scored on RBI singles while a stolen base combined with a throwing error forced home the other.
Reno saw a pair of their normal starting pitchers work in the contest, as right-hander Brandon Pfaadt made the start and yielded two runs on three hits over 3.1 innings of work, punching out two with two walks. Though he did not follow immediately, Dylan Ray made his first appearance in the fifth and wound up tossing just 0.1 inning after surrendering the six runs on three hits and three walks.
Ultimately, the loss was charged to Yilber Díaz (3-3), who was tagged for the run in the top of the ninth on three hits without a walk or strikeout.
A pair of Aces had three-hit games and scored twice in Fernandez and Robinson, though the former tripled with an RBI while the latter homered with two RBI. All six other hits came from different bats including home runs from each of the top two spots in the lineup in Tawa and Amaya.
Today’s loss marked the fifth consecutive series loss for the Aces, and they will look to turn their fortunes in the opposite direction when they close the first half of the season next week on the road in El Paso beginning on Tuesday at 5:35 p.m. PT.