Reno Beats Themselves in Opener

TACOMA, WA – The Tacoma Rainiers (52-42) won the opener over the Reno Aces (49-44) by a score of 5-4, Friday at Cheney Stadium.

Albert Almora Jr. got the Aces on the board with a two-run double in the second inning following two infield singles. They padded their lead in the fifth on a solo home run from Pavin Smith to go up 3-0.

The Rainiers broke through in their half of the fifth, scoring three runs of their own on a single from Duke Ellis and an error. The game stayed tied until the seventh, when Tacoma took advantage of more sloppy play from Reno.

A balk and wild pitch pushed in two more runs for the Rainiers, giving them their first lead of the game, at 5-3. Deyvison De Los Santos made it a one-run game with a solo home run in the eighth, and that is where it stayed.

Reno got the tying run to third base in the ninth, but Joey Krehbiel retired the final batter to earn his fifth save of the year and give Tacoma their first win out of the break.

POSTGAME NOTES:

• The Rainiers scored five runs with just one RBI on the night, getting two runs on an error, one on a balk and one on a wild pitch.
• Samad Taylor was the lone Tacoma player to record a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with a run scored out of the seven-hole.
• Kirby Snead earned his second win of the year, allowing one hit over 1.1 scoreless innings.

Tacoma and Reno will play game two of their three-game set tomorrow night, with first pitch from Cheney Stadium scheduled for 6:05 pm. For more information and tickets, visit https://www.milb.com/tacoma.