Aces baseball recap: Three-run sixth inning propels Sacramento over Reno 7-4
Submitted by Isaiah Burrows on Thu, 08/17/2017 - 10:17pm
After a 4-0 victory against the Sacramento River Cats, the Reno Aces reclaimed their Pacific Coast League Division lead, putting them one-game up on the Fresno Grizzlies. Aces starting pitcher Ivan Pineyro took the mound looking to extend division lead against southpaw Andrew Suarez.
Reno attacked the scoring column early in the 2nd, as Kristopher Negron launched his 12th home run of the year to deep left- center, putting them up 1-0. After a scoreless 3rd inning, the River Cats broke-free with a 2-1 lead in the 4th with one swing of the bat from Tim Federowicz, shifting the momentum in Sacramento’s favor after the two-run blast.
Oswaldo Arcia’s 82nd RBI of the season scored Ildemaro Vargas, tying the game at 2-runs apiece in the bottom of the 5th inning. But the River Cats’ bats continued to click on all cylinders the next half inning, as RBI’s from Chris Shaw (RBI Double), Federowicz (RBI double), and Ryan Lollis (RBI single) capped-off a four-hit, three-run 6th inning. Making the score 5-2 with the game winding down.
The three-run deficit was soon trimmed down to two- runs, as a leadoff triple from Christian Walker lead to an RBI single from Jack Reinheimer. Cutting the score to 5-3, and marking the 50th RBI of the 2017 campaign for Reinheimer. Suarez ( 5IP, 6H, 1ER, 0BB, 3K) was relieved by DJ Snelten during the Aces’ comeback. After a rough six innings, (6IP, 8H, 5ER, 0BB, 3K) Jake Barrett came in relief for Pineyro.
Chris Shaw added to his stuff-sheet with a 463 foot bomb in the top of the ninth inning. Putting the nail in the coffin, ending in a 7-4 Aces defeat.
With the tough loss under their belts, Negron described the adjustments needed to be made in order to clinch a playoff spot.
“We just need to keep grinding out games,” he said. “Even if we get behind we need to crawl our way back, because this late in the year anything happens. Just because we have remained in first place the majority of the year doesn’t mean we will finish that way, so we need to keep playing hard.”
Key performers for the Sacramento River Cats included: Chris Shaw (2-5, double, home run 3 RBI’s), Tim Federowicz (2-4, home run, double, 3 RBI’s), and Ryan Lollis (3-4 3 singles, 1 RBI).
Winning pitcher: Andrew Suarez
Key performers for the Reno Aces included: Kristopher Negron (1-4 home run, 1 RBI), Oswaldo Arcia ( 2-4, 2 singles, 1 RBI), and Ildemaro Vargas (1-5, double, 1 RBI).
Losing pitcher: Ivan Pineyro
Despite the loss, the Aces remain in 1st place in the Pacific Northern Division.
