RENO, Nev. – Four straight runs from the fifth inning on had the Reno Aces and the fans at Greater Nevada Field on the edge of the seats on Saturday, but Reno denied the Sacramento River Cats their comeback attempt and snatch their second straight win behind a 6-4 final in game five.
Three batters into the second was when the Aces (26-30) snatched the lead they would never relinquish, as Angel Ortiz drove home the game’s first run on a double to right field following a single from Jacob Amaya and walk to Christian Cerda.
That lead grew by two in the fourth with yet another Reno double, this time from Cerda as his two-out two-bagger to deep center plated a pair. The first of those two was the rehabbing Pavin Smith, who had also doubled, while Amaya drew a free pass to eventually score his second run of the night.
The trend continued as the Aces doubled that lead in the fifth, doing so with one swing of the bat from Luis Urías. Following an Andrew Velazquez walk and Kristian Robinson single, Urías hammered the first pitch he saw 407 feet at 102.2 mph exit velocity, moving the score to 6-0.
Reno starter Yu-Min Lin (3-4) was sharp throughout, blanking the River Cats (32-22) for the first four frames before finally allowing two runs in the fifth. Lin would check out after that frame, yielding two runs on six hits in five frames with just one walk for his third win of the campaign.
Sacramento continued to rally throughout the rest of the game, scoring once more in the sixth and seventh that brought the River Cats within shouting distance. Despite multiple times having the game’s tying run on board, Gerardo Carrillo (S, 5) shut the door despite yielding a hit and pair of walks.
Seven different Aces recorded hits on the night, but only Robinson had multiple as he was 2-for-5 with a run scored and stolen base from the leadoff position. The big star of the night for Reno was Urías, as his three-run homer was his only hit of night but represented the difference in the contest. Cerda and Ortiz each finished 1-for-3 with a double, though the former drove in two.
The Aces will go aim for a series split when the two teams meet for the finale of this six-game set on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. PT.