RENO, Nev. – One inning was all the difference in the contest between the Reno Aces and the Las Vegas Aviators on Thursday, as Las Vegas scored three times in the fifth to hand Reno a 3-1 defeat at Greater Nevada Field.
All was smooth sailing for the Aces (21-21) until the fifth inning, as starter Mitch Bratt had been cruising through the game without a run allowed through the first four frames. Bratt would leave with apparent injury following an Aviators (21-19) bunt single, while Las Vegas went on to score three times following his exit.
Las Vegas starter Gage Jump suffered a similar fate, also checking out in the fifth with apparent injury. Despite the change, it took until the home half of the sixth for the Aces to hit the scoreboard thanks to an RBI groundout from Jacob Amaya.
Scoring on the play was LuJames Groover, who doubled to start the inning. That knock extended his team-best on-base streak to 35 games, which is tied for the fifth longest such streak in franchise history.
Those two innings contained all scoring in the game, as outside of Reno’s two hits in the sixth they totaled just four others in the contest. On an individual level, four hits came from the duo of Luken Baker and Aramis Garcia. The former of that duo was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, while the latter was 2-for-4.
Unfortunately for Bratt, he was handed his first Triple-A decision, a loss after allowing two of the runners to score on base prior to his exit in the fifth. Despite that, he struck out three without a walk and yielded only four total hits.
The last three arms out of the Reno bullpen kept the Aces in the contest in Gerardo Carrillo, Yilber Díaz, and Joe Ross. That trio combined to toss four full innings while allowing only two hits with five strikeouts, though they did issue five free passes.
Reno will look to change their fortunes on Friday when game four of the series gets underway from Greater Nevada Field at 6:05 p.m. PT.