Henry Ramos delivers in debut, lifting Aces to 9-6 win over River Cats

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Henry Ramos made his presence felt both at the plate and in the field during his Aces’ debut, helping Reno to its 11th win of the season, a 9-6 victory over Sacramento on Friday.

The recently signed free agent unloaded a 2-for-4 performance at the dish, driving in a pair of runs while scoring twice himself. Not only did the Aces’ newcomer produce on offense, Ramos saved the game and shifted momentum back in favor of Reno in the seventh.

After the River Cats tacked on five runs in the inning, Ramos streaked into the left-center gap and made a full-extension diving catch with a runner on first and one out to halt the Sacramento rally.

Had it not been for Ramos’ game-saving catch, Jon Duplantier’s first Triple-A victory as a starter would have been for nothing. The Aces’ starter put forth one of the best Triple-A outings of his career, going a personal-best 5.0 innings while allowing just one run on three hits along with a trio of strikeouts.

Jancarlos Cintron matched his career-high in hits, going 3-for-4 at the dish with a run scored in the contest.

Three Aces extended hitting streaks in tonight’s game. Seth Beer went 1-for-4 in the game, with his only hit being a single in the first to increase his base-knock streak to five. Juniel Querecuto also recorded a pair of singles against Sacramento, smacking his first of the contest in the third to increase his streak to six. Drew Ellis registered a hit in five straight games with his leadoff double in the fifth.

After a pair of scoreless frames to start the game, the Aces opened the scoring in the top of the third, batting around to put a four-spot on the board.

Following a base knock from Jancarlos Cintron, Reno’s starter Duplantier dropped a sacrifice bunt in front of the plate and safely reached second following a throwing error by the River Cats’ pitcher. With runners on second and third, Nick Heath lined a single to left and brought Cintron home to tally the first run of the game.

Juniel Querecuto singled deep into the shortstop hole to bring Duplantier in from third and gave the Aces a 2-0 lead. After a walk to Beer to load the bases, Heath scored on Ellis’s ground ball on the third-base line to increase the advantage, 3-0. With two outs, Henry Ramos drove a base knock up the middle and scored Beer from second, bringing the lead to four, 4-0.

Sacramento cut its deficit to three, 4-1, in the bottom half of the third on an RBI single from LaMonte Wade that scored Thiaro Estrada.

Following a blank fourth inning, Ellis doubled down the left-field line to lead off the visiting half of the fifth. After a single to right-center by Ramos to put Ellis on third, a wild pitch brought the Aces’ third baseman in to score and reclaim a four-run advantage, 5-1. In the ensuing at-bat, Matt Lipka drilled a deep sacrifice fly to left-center to increase its lead to five, 6-1.

After Duplantier worked out of trouble with an inning-ending double play in the bottom of the fifth, the Aces added a tally in the top of the sixth to take a six-run edge over Sacramento.

Reno loaded the bases to lead off the top of the fifth following a pair of walks to Querecuto and Ellis and Beer taking a pitch off the leg. Ramos picked up his second RBI of the night, lifting a sacrifice fly to center and sending Querecuto home to take a 7-1 advantage.

The Aces threatened in the seventh after three consecutive singles to lead off the frame by Cintron, Renae Martinez and Heath but, the River Cats escaped without allowing a run to keep its deficit at six.

Sacramento nearly erased Reno’s six-run lead in the bottom of the seventh, tagging Carlos Navas for five tallies. A two-run single by Estrada and a three-run home run by LaMonte Wade brought the River Cats to within one, 7-6. The rally came to a screeching halt as Ramos saved the game with a diving catch in deep left-center to prevent the runner on first from advancing.

Reno tacked on two more in the top of the eighth on a one-run double from Lipka and an RBI groundout by Bryan Holaday to take a 9-6 edge through seven and a half.

After a blank eighth, Ryan Buchter closed out the contest with a perfect ninth to pick up his fifth save of year.

Reno returns to action on Saturday against Sacramento, with the first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. PT. Josh Green will take the mound for his third start of the season against Shun Yamaguchi. Saturday’s game can be heard on renoaces.com or KPLY 630 AM locally with Zack Bayrouty on the call.