HOW IT HAPPENED:
CF Jarred Kelenic wasted no time and went after the second pitch he saw and doubled to start the game. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Kelenic scored on an RBI single by 2B John Taylor to push across the game’s first run.
The Aces responded in the bottom frame with three runs to take their first lead of the game. A two-run home run by 3B LuJames Groover and a solo home run by RF Manuel Pena made it a 3-1 game after the first inning.
The Express regained a one-run edge in the second. 3B Santiago Espinal led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on consecutive groundouts. RF Gilberto Celestino knocked in Espinal with an RBI single to cut the deficit to one. Kelenic followed with his fourth homer of the year to give the E-Train a 4-3 advantage.
Reno answered with four runs in the bottom of the second for the third lead change of the game. C Christian Cerda drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly from LF Adrian Del Castillo. Groover followed with an RBI single, 1B Tyler Locklear added an RBI double and Pena drove in another run. The inning ended with Reno leading 7-4.
Castillo added to the Aces’ tally with a solo home run in the fourth to extend the lead to four.
After being held scoreless for four innings, the Express stormed back for five runs in the seventh courtesy of six consecutive hits. Celestino led off the inning with a solo home run and Kelenic and Taylor followed with back-to-back singles. DH Aaron Zavala, 1B Diego Castillo and LF Trevor Hauver recorded consecutive singles to knot the game up at eight. Espinal capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly to drive in Castillo and take a 9-8 lead.
In the eighth, Celestino, Kelenic and Taylor recorded consecutive singles to load the bases before Zavala lifted a sacrifice fly to score Celestino. Castillo then tripled home Kelenic and Taylor, and Hauver followed with an RBI single that plated Castillo to make it a 13-8 game.
The Aces evened the score at 13 in the bottom frame after an RBI single by Pena and a grand slam by Ortiz.
In the bottom of the ninth, Reno loaded the bases for Locklear, who worked a walk and pushed across the game-winning run from third. The Aces claimed a walk-off 14-13 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
E-TRAIN EXCERPTS:
WHERE WE STAND: Reno has now evened the series at a game apiece… the Express fall to 11 G under .500 for the 4th time this month… have not won or lost consecutive games to start July… are now 2-3 in last 5… 5-5 in last 10 G… are 5-3 in road games to start the second half.
LHP MARCO GONZALES: (ND, 2.0 IP, 8 H, 7 R-ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 50 pitches, 29 strikes) made his 15th start of the campaign on Wednesday afternoon and his 3rd with the Express… 2nd appearance against the Aces this season (4/25 w/ ELP)… tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts while allowing just two hits… 2nd time this season he has allowed 7 ER in an outing (5/12 at SL w/ ELP)…just the 5th time in his 249 G across his MLB and MiLB career to not record a strikeout in an outing.
RHP JOSH STEPHAN: (ND, 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R-ER, 3 SO, 1 HR, 61 pitches, 41 strikes) made his second consecutive appearance out of the bullpen for the Express… also appeared out of the bullpen on 7/2 (vs ABQ) at Dell Diamond where he tossed 5.2 innings allowing just two hits and a run while striking out four… is just his 10th career game coming out of the bullpen… owns a 2-1 record with a 3.75 ERA (15 ER/ 36.0 IP) as a reliever… has appeared primarily as a starter in the Rangers farm system where he is 26-26 with a 4.27 ERA (204 ER/430.1 IP).
OF JARRED KELENIC: finished a triple away from the cycle and continued his hot start to the series against the Aces… doubled to start the game and followed with two-run homer in the 2nd to regain the lead for the Express… all four of his hits were recorded at 100.0+ mph… the outfielder now has 12 H that have registered over 100.0 mph… 4th homer of the season and his 2nd on the road… both road round-trippers were recorded over 100.0 mph… is hitting .778 (7-for-9) with a homer and 3 RBI through his first 2 G this series.
INF JOHN TAYLOR: recorded a season-high 5 H against Reno on Wednesday… singles in the 1st, 2nd, 5th,7th and 8th innings came against four different pitches (4-seam fastball, slider, sinker, cutter)…becomes the 7th PCL player this season and 25th in E-Train history to record 5 H or more in a game… the infielder is coming off an ABQ series where he hit .190 (4-for-21)… 3 of the 4 H were home runs.
TOP AND MIDDLE HALF: The top and middle part of the lineup drove in 11 of the club’s 13 runs on Wednesday afternoon… owned 16 of the 19 H… the top half of the lineup (Kelenic, Taylor, and Zavala) combined to go 10-15 with 5 RBI and a home run… middle of the lineup (Castillo, Hauver, Espinal) combined for 6-for-14 with 6 RBI… on the year, the top half of the lineup is batting .268 with 141 RBI and 27 HR while the middle part of the order is leading the way with a .267 batting average, 183 RBI and 28 HR… the bottom half of the lineup has provided 123 RBI with 30 HR while hitting .233.
NOTES: 11 combined runs through the first 2 innings marks just the 3rd PCL game this season to have 10+ runs through the first two frames (6/6 RNO at LV, 6/18 RR at LV)… the E-Train have now allowed multiple homers in 34 G this season and are 12-22 in those contests… Round Rock has opened the series at Reno with 27 runs on 34 hits… 27 runs are the club’s 2nd most over a two-game span this season and trail only the 28-run outburst from 5/19-20 at El Paso… the 34 hits are the most over any two-game stretch in 2026.
NEXT GAME: Thursday, July 9 at Reno FIRST PITCH: 8:35 p.m. CT BALLPARK: Greater Nevada Field
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