Sacramento Drops Seesaw Clash, Splits Series with Reno

RENO, Nev. – Sunday’s series finale swung back-and-forth between the Sacramento River Cats and the Reno Aces, eventually landing in favor of Reno thanks to five unanswered runs leading to a 10-6 final.

Starting things off for the River Cats (42-27) was Luis Matos, who has gone scorched earth in this series against the Aces (33-36) and continued his hot-swinging ways with a solo homer two batters into the contest. For Matos it was his eighth dinger of the campaign, with seven of those homers coming at Greater Nevada Field in Reno.

David Villar kept the line moving, singling into left field and extending his current hitting streak to eight games (14-for-32, .438). Villar later scored in the frame when Blake Sabol lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, which also pushed his run-scoring streak to eight games with 11 total runs in that time.

Reno countered with their own homer in the home half of the first, striking thanks to a two-out blast from Kyle Garlick on a 1-0 pitch from Sacramento starter Tommy Romero. In the second Romero was bitten by the long ball once more, serving up a two-run blast to Tristin English just two batters into the frame.

A run in the away half of the fourth saw the game briefly tied, as the River Cats knotted the score at 3-3 after Grant McCray singled into center field and subsequently stole second. McCray then easily crossed home on an RBI double from Luis Matos. That marked the 16th double and 13th RBI of the series for Matos, and the Venezuela native has recorded 19 of his 31 RBI on the season against the Aces.

That tie was short-lived as the Aces pulled back in front with another pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame, as English got things going with a leadoff double and scored in the next at-bat on a hard-hit ball towards first that was ultimately ruled an error. A walk and sacrifice bunt put a pair in scoring position, though only the first scored on a sacrifice fly from Albert Almora Jr.

With one swing of the bat the River Cats found themselves back in front during the top of the fifth, as Brett Auerbach delivered in the clutch with a two-out, three-run home run for his third big fly of the campaign. Scoring on the play was Sabol, who had walked to reach base, as well as newcomer Jerar Encarnacion, who opened the frame with a one-bagger.

Those were the final runs of the contest for Sacramento, as the Aces did the rest of the scoring starting with two more in the bottom of the fifth that saw them regain the advantage. Kyle Garlick made his way aboard thanks to an inning-opening single, and later scored when Deyvison De Los Santos crushed a ball to left-center field on a 1-0 count, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.

Two more insurance tallies were added in the seventh on a De Los Santos sacrifice fly and a single from English, while the game’s final marker crossed the plate in the eighth thanks to Adrian Del Castillo’s 13th home run of the season.

Today’s loss handed Sacramento their third consecutive defeat, just the third time this season that the River Cats have dropped three in a row. Sacramento will have to wait until tonight to see how that affects the standings, as the PCL-leading Sugar Land Space Cowboys square off with Oklahoma City later tonight.

Last week’s PCL Pitcher of the Week Tommy Romero ended with three earned runs (five total) on four hits in 3.1 innings, though it was Cody Stashak (1-1) who was charged with the loss by allowing two runs on two hits in 2.2 innings of work.

Making his Triple-A debut for the River Cats today was Cameron Cotter, and he allowed a pair of runs (only one earned) on one hit and three walks, though he did record his first Triple-A strikeout.

From the dish it was the usual suspects, as Matos was 2-for-5 with his pair of extra-base hits and RBI, while Encarnacion also collected two RBI.

The River Cats will now return home to finish the last week of the PCL first half against the Round Rock Express, with first pitch of the series on Tuesday from Sutter Health Park at 6:45 p.m. (PT).