Aces cap off historic 2021 campaign with franchise-best winning percentage

RENO, Nev. – Despite an abrupt end to its season, the Reno Aces put forth a historic 2021 campaign highlighted by new franchise records and memorable moments.

Manager Blake Lalli led his club to a 70-54 record in his first season for a franchise-best .565 winning percentage, surpassing the previous mark of .563 set by the 2012, ‘14, and ’17 squads.

The Aces paced Minor League Baseball in several offensive categories through the season, including batting average (.294), runs scored (872), hits (1284), doubles (284), RBIs (816), slugging percentage (.518) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.891).

Among the successes, Reno saw Arizona Diamondbacks’ No. 3-rated prospect Alek Thomas dazzle at Greater Nevada Field.

The D-Backs’ Minor League Player of the Year and MLB Pipeline’s Prospect Team of the Year selection set career-highs in runs scored (86), hits (136), doubles (29), triples (12), home runs (18) and RBIs (59) through 106 appearances with Reno and Double-A Amarillo.

Thomas rode a 13-game hitting streak through the end of the year and logged 19 multi-hit games in 34 contests. The 21-year-old racked up 55 base knocks, 23 extra-base hits, 32 runs scored and 27 RBIs while slashing .369/.434/.658 in Northern Nevada. Of his eight home runs in Triple-A, four were leadoff home runs to start the game.

On two occasions since being called up to MiLB’s top level, Thomas strung together back-to-back four-hit games to become the only player in professional baseball this season to record a pair of consecutive four-hit games in the same year. He also became the sixth player in franchise history to hit a home run in four consecutive contests.

Reno rattled off four victories against the Salt Lake Bees to open its campaign, marking the longest winning streak to start a season in club history.

The Aces kicked off their season with an eight-strikeout performance from Corbin Martin on Opening Day, breaking the franchise record for most punchouts in game one. Drew Ellis started the record-breaking night with a home run with one out in the top of the first, marking the earliest Opening Day homer by a player in franchise history.

Seth Beer provided the first of many inaugural events to happen in 2021, becoming the first Ace to hit a pair of doubles on Opening Day while being the ninth player to record three hits.

Renae Martinez and Jamie Ritchie became the first duo in franchise history to smash a grand slam in the same game to help down Las Vegas on May 18.

The Aces closed out the first month of the season with a pair of walk-off wins. Ellis played hero in the 10th inning on May 28 against Tacoma, slapping a single through the right side to lift Reno to an 8-7 victory. Two days later, the Aces’ trailed by four tallies heading into the ninth before Bryan Holaday launched a walk-off three-run shot to knock off the Rainiers, 7-6.

Reno picked up where they left off to open June when Matt Lipka hit the team’s third walk-off base knock in less than two weeks when he ended the June 7 game against Sacramento with an RBI single.

Eleven days later, Daulton Varsho became the first Ace to smack two home runs in the same inning when he hit a grand slam and a solo shot in the eighth against Albuquerque on June 18.

Seth Beer and Christian Lopes made franchise history just four days later by each recording a pinch-hit home run in the same contest in Reno's 9-8 victory against the Isotopes.

The Aces kicked off July by scoring their 400th run of the season in just 53 games, marking the fastest to 400 tallies in the team’s existence. No team since 2005 had reached the 400-run plateau faster than the Aces, surpassing the mark previously held by the Lancaster JetHawks in 56 contests.

In the middle of all the history-making excitement, reliever Miguel Aguilar went 15-for-15 in save opportunities to start the 2021 campaign and set a new club record to open a season.

On Aug. 20 and Aug. 23, Reno swept a pair of doubleheaders from the same team (Salt Lake Bees) in the same series for the first time in team history. With no known record of two doubleheader sweeps in the same set in Minor League Baseball, the Majors have had 23 instances of the feat since 1961, with the most recent coming on July 28-29, 1997, between Milwaukee and Toronto, according to MLBSweeps.com.

The Aces recorded a Triple-A-leading 50 three-baggers this season, 10 of which came in the span of two days. On Sept. 20, the Biggest Little City’s club registered four triples against Salt Lake to break a nine-year franchise record for most in a contest. The following night, Reno tallied six triples in its 19-4 downing of the Bees to snap its day-old mark.

Not only have the players provided success in Reno, but plenty have also made an impact on baseball’s greatest stage. Nine players made their Major League debut this season for Arizona while 19 of the 28 current D-Backs’ have made at least one appearance in the Biggest Little City this season.