RENO, Nev. - The Reno Aces took on the El Paso Chihuahuas on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 7,082 at Greater Nevada Field. A night after falling by a score of 10-4, the Aces dropped a nail-biter in extra-innings 6-5. Right-hander Matt Koch made his first start
RENO, Nev. - The Reno Aces took on the El Paso Chihuahuas on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 7,082 at Greater Nevada Field. A night after falling by a score of 10-4, the Aces dropped a nail-biter in extra-innings 6-5. Right-hander Matt Koch made his first start in Northern Nevada of the season. Koch allowed four runs on five hits in five innings of work. The Aces offense was led by Triple-A All-Star Christian Walker who finished 3-for-4 with a run scored.
Former Aces outfielder Nick Buss put the Chihuahuas into the scoring column in the top of the first inning. After a Franchy Cordero double to start the game, Buss blasted his second home run of the series over the right field wall to give El Paso a 2-0 lead. Buss was named a Triple-A All-Star in 2017 and is currently batting a league-best .390.
In the top of the third inning, Buss struck again, leading off the inning with a double to center field. After a Christian Villanueva walk, Diego Goris singled in Buss to give El Paso a 3-0 lead. Collin Cowgill drew a full-count base-on-balls to load the bases for Dusty Coleman. Coleman also drew a bases-loaded walk to score a run and give El Paso a 4-0 advantage.
Jeremy Hazelbaker carried over some magic from last night's inside-the-park home run in the bottom half of the third inning. After drawing a five-pitch walk, El Paso shifted their defense to the first base side for left-handed-hitting Oswaldo Arcia. Hazelbaker then stole second and outran the Chihuahuas third baseman to third for two stolen bases in one play. An errant throw by the catcher skipped off Hazelbaker and rolled into the Aces dugout to score a run.
The score would remain 4-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning. Hazelbaker launched his 12th double of the season to get the bottom half started. After an Ildemaro Vargas fly out, Oswaldo Arcia hit a towering 447-foot home run to narrow the El Paso lead to just one. Reno tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth with Jack Reinheimer driving in Walker to take a 5-4 lead.
Homers by Ryan Schimpf in the ninth inning and Franchy Cordero in the 10th gave El Paso a 6-5 lead in extra-innings. Reno would put a baserunner on in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn't get him across to tie things up. The loss brings Reno to a 55-38 record, but still in first place in the Pacific Northern Division. Reno has been in first place since May 26th when they had a record of 30-19.
Greg Gross and the Aces will look to split the series tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. The Greater Nevada Field gates open at 12:05 p.m. 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.
