Aces Collect 42nd Victory, Move Six Games Up in Pacific North

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The Reno Aces came out slugging against the Salt Lake Bees in the 13-5 game three at Smith's Field. The Aces collected four home runs, including three in the first two innings by Oswaldo Arcia, Carlos Rivero and Kristopher Negrón, who combined for nine RBI total. Frank Duncan collected his fifth straight win after battling through six innings while giving up five runs on nine hits. The team's 42nd victory increases their division lead to six games after a win by El Paso over Tacoma.

Reno opened game three of the series with a bang and collected five runs on five hits, including two home runs, after sending eleven batters to the plate in the 37-minute top of the first. With one out, Jack Reinheimer collected the Aces first hit and was brought in the following at-bat thanks to Oswaldo Arcia's two-ball count home run to right field. With two outs in the inning and Sócrates Brito on via base on balls, Carlos Rivero launched the second deep fly of the half that sailed over the left field fence. The Aces would add one more on Hank Conger's single to score Zach Borenstein, who walked, and give Reno the early 5-0 advantage.
With the long break from the pen to the mound, the Bees took advantage of a cooled down Duncan and put two across of their own on four hits. Salt Lake would quickly get on the board after a leadoff double by Michael Bourn and scored on Kaleb Cowart's single up the middle. With a third consecutive hit by Jefry Marte, Dustin Ackley was able to produce the second run of the inning after grounding into a double play.
Without any loss of momentum, the Aces went on another offensive attack, plating four more runs in the second to take a 9-2 lead. After three consecutive walks, Borenstein added a run on a ground out. In the very next at-bat, Kristopher Negrón launched the third long ball of the game with his first multi-home run, a deep three-run shot to centerfield.
Duncan, who retired the next six batters following the first inning, ran into some trouble in the fourth as the Bees made a three-run push. Salt Lake scored twice on three consecutive hits to start the inning, and with one out, allowed a double to Matt Williams to set runners on the corners. The Angels-affiliate brought in the third run on a groundout by Sherman Johnson to cut the deficit to 9-5.
After three straight scoreless frames, the Aces came back with four final runs in the final four frames. In the sixth, with two out, after Brito knocked a two-out hit and Rivero moved him up after a walk, Borenstein added two RBI to his tally with an opposite field double to left center. In the seventh, after a one-out walk by Ildemaro Vargas, Reinheimer collected his second hit, moving Vargas to third and in scoring position. Arcia added with a ground ball he beat out to avoid a double play to add his third RBI of the game as Vargas scored and increasing the lead to 12-5. Finally, Conger, in the ninth, added the Aces thirteenth run of the contest after knocking the Aces fourth home run of the contest to right-center field.
Borenstein finished the night with three RBI of his own after going one-for-four with a double and a walk. Reinheimer marked his sixteenth multi-hit game of the season with two in the contest.
Relievers Erik Davis and Matt Stites combined to toss three shutdown innings. Davis allowed just one hit and collected a strikeout while Stites threw a one-two-three bottom of the ninth to close the three-plus hour contest in front of a paid attendance of more than 11,000.
The series finale against Salt Lake is tomorrow. First pitch of the final game four is slated for 6:05 p.m. Reno returns to Greater Nevada Field this Saturday, June 17th where they will face the Las Vegas 51's for a four-game series. Tickets are on-sale now at www.renoaces.com or by calling (775) 334-4700. Follow the club all season long on Twitter (@Aces) or like the team on Facebook.