Aces Meet Bulls in Triple-A National Championship Game
Fresh off a Pacific Coast League Championship win Friday night, the Reno Aces will face the Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday afternoon in the Triple-A Championship game at Las Vegas Ballpark. Fans can watch the Aces’ pursuit of their second Triple-A National Championship in franchise
Fresh off a Pacific Coast League Championship win Friday night, the Reno Aces will face the Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, Sunday afternoon in the Triple-A Championship game at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Fans can watch the Aces’ pursuit of their second Triple-A National Championship in franchise history for free on Milb.tv.
SCOUTING DURHAM
Durham blanked the Nashville Sounds, Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, in a 13-0 rout Saturday night to win their eighth International League Championship.
The Bulls finished the regular season with an 86-54 record and clinched the International League East division, their 16th in the last 24 seasons.
Josh Lowe led Durham’s offense with 14 homers, 67 RBI and 25 stolen bases and a .315 batting average. In September, the outfielder finished the regular season strong and hit .333 (31-for-93) with four homers, 16 RBI, and 13 stolen bases.
One of the Bulls’ most consistent starting pitchers this year has been right-hander Taj Bradley. The hurler finished the regular season with a 4-3 record and 3.66 ERA in 12 starts. Bradley performs well against right-handed batters, holding them to a .150 batting average.
Dusten Knight has been a reliable arm out of Durham’s bullpen all season. In 48 games, Knight sported a 4-4 record, 3.42 ERA and struck out 66 batters in 55.1 innings pitched.
ACES HIGH
A three-run homer from Jake Hager in the second inning paired with an impressive performance from Reno’s bullpen cemented a 6-2 Pacific Coast League title for the Aces, their second in franchise history.
In the second inning, Reno added four runs, capped off by a 409-foot smash to left from Hager to give the Aces a 4-0 lead.
Reno’s relief corps of Tyler Holton, Mitchell Stumpo and J.B. Wendelken all put up zeroes for Reno with a combined four shutout innings, allowed one hit, three walks and fanned seven batters to preserve the 6-2 win.
The win was awarded to Brandon Pfaadt (W, 1-0) after the Louisville, Kentucky native tossed five innings of two-run ball, allowed 10 hits, two walks and struck out three.
- Jake Hager: (PCL Championship Game MVP) 1-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R.
- Alek Thomas: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 R.
- Brandon Pfaadt: (W, 1-0) 5.0 IP, 2 R/2 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 3 K’s.
- Tyler Holton: (H, 1) 2.0 IP, 0 R/0 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 3 K’s.