Patience, Clutch Hits Help Sacramento Outlast Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – Lots of history was accomplished for the Sacramento River Cats on Friday, as they drew 17 walks and plated nine runs in the second inning, helping Sacramento win its third straight game for the sixth time this year thanks to a 14-8 win over the Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS – Lots of history was accomplished for the Sacramento River Cats on Friday, as they drew 17 walks and plated nine runs in the second inning, helping Sacramento win its third straight game for the sixth time this year thanks to a 14-8 win over the Las Vegas Aviators.
It was the Aviators (1-3/38-41) that got on the board first, striking once against Sacramento starter Blake Snell, who was making the second appearance of his rehab assignment. A leadoff walk came around to hurt on a one-out double by Jordan Diaz, and Snell allowed two more in the third on a two-run homer from Diaz prior to exiting with a final line of three runs on four hits, striking out six in the process.
No matter, the River Cats (3-1/47-32) scored nine times in the second inning of the contest, taking a lead they never relinquished. The first four came by way of the big fly from Donovan Walton as his fifth of the year was the third Sacramento grand slam in 2024, the first since Jakson Reetz on June 11 at Reno.
DONNIE SLAM
— Sacramento River Cats (@RiverCats) June 29, 2024
Home run no. 5 on the year for Donovan Walton (in grand fashion) – and the dinger parade CONTINUES in Vegas! pic.twitter.com/alX9bkwKd4
While that was the highlight, the consistency was patience as the River Cats drew a total of nine walks in the inning, a new franchise record since at least 2005. Seven of those free passes came consecutively, including five with the bases loaded leading Sacramento to score their nine tallies that inning on only three hits. It was the 16th time since 2005 that the River Cats have scored nine or more runs in an inning.
Sacramento continued the offensive pressure throughout the game, scoring in four more innings before the final out. Each of the next two runs came from sacrifice flies as Casey Schmitt did so in the fourth and Blake Sabol followed suit in the seventh, while a Walton leadoff double in the eighth resulted in a run thanks to a single from McCray before Schmitt later sent McCray across the dish.
McCray ended with three hits on the night, which included a triple to start the sixth that made him the first River Cat since Luis Matos on May 19-20 at Reno to hit a triple in consecutive games. Meanwhile, he has seven hits in his last two games (7-for-10) and has eight hits in his last 15 at-bats (.533).
Finally, it was Blake Sabol closing it out, as his fifth blast of the season came during the top of the ninth for the 14th run of the game for the River Cats. This is the second time scoring 14 runs in consecutive games for Sacramento, as they also did so on June 11-12 at Reno when they scored 14 and 17 runs, respectively.
Among the offense for Sacramento was a total of 17 free passes, which marks a new franchise record for the team. The previous mark was 15 which had been accomplished twice, including earlier this season on June 12 at Reno, while the first instance came on Aug. 18, 2002 at home against Colorado Springs.
Following Snell it was Nick Garcia (3-1), who ended as the winning pitcher after not allowing a run on a single hit with two punchouts in 2.0 innings. He was the only River Cat to toss a scoreless outing on the night. Right-hander Tanner Andrews was the last to appear, tossing the final 2.1 innings and earning his second save after he allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts.
This was the second straight game that the River Cats won 14-8, as they also topped Las Vegas by an identical score yesterday evening. That marked the second time this season in which Sacramento has played a game that has ended in an identical score, as they also did so on June 4-5 with a pair of 3-2 victories over Albuquerque.
From the dish, Walton drove in the most runs with a total of five, all of which came during the second inning. He is the second River Cat to record five RBI in a single inning, joining Jakson Reetz who did so last year when he also hit a grand slam and a solo home run during the fifth inning on July 30 in a 17-16 loss at Albuquerque. Walton also finished with a trio of hits, his first three-hit game this season (one four-hit game).
Having clinched at least a split of this six-game set, the River Cats will go for the series win when the two teams link up again on Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m. (PT) from Las Vegas Ballpark.