Career nights from Heath and DeLuzio lift Aces to 12-5 victory over Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Reno Aces collected its fifth win in its series finale with the Salt Lake Bees, a 12-5 victory over the Salt Lake Bees on career nights from Nick Heath and Ben DeLuzio and the team’s second six-run ninth inning in as many nights in Utah on Tuesday.

Heath went 2-for-5 with a career-high four RBIs and a run scored in the series finale. The Aces’ centerfielder became just the third player this season to record four RBIs in a game, joining Domingo Leyba and Juniel Querecuto.

DeLuzio fell a triple shy of the cycle, going a perfect 4-for-4 at the dish with three runs scored and four RBIs. His four hits tied a career-high set on June 28, 2017, when he was in Low-A with Kane County. The outfielder smacked two doubles in the game, marking the third time in 2021 an Aces player has smacked a pair of two-baggers. Seth Beer registered the other two occasions earlier in the series with his last coming on May 7.

Reno repeated its ninth-inning performance from the night before, tagging the Bees with six runs in the top half to extend its lead to seven, 12-5.

Furthermore, the Aces’ bats drilled back-to-back homers in the ninth for the second-consecutive game. After a one-out walk to Reddick in the final frame, Leyba drilled a two-run shot to right-center, only to be followed by a solo shot from Beer to right. For the second time this season, the duo has sent dingers over the outfield wall consecutively, having accomplished the feat to lead off the fourth inning on May 7.

Leyba, Josh Reddick and Jamie Ritchie all extended their respective hitting streaks in tonight’s game. Reddick’s single in the first pushed his streak to four, while Ritchie’s base knock in the second increased his to six. Leyba’s single in the third expanded his streak to a team-high seven games.

The Bees took an early 1-0 lead after holding the Aces off the board in the first. Kean Wong came around to score from second after Luis Rengifo dropped a base hit behind Reno’s shortstop Leyba in the bottom half of the opening frame.

The Aces responded quickly in the second, putting a three-spot on the board. Stuart Fairchild worked a 10-pitch walk to start the inning, followed by a single to right from Jamie Ritchie to give the Aces first and second with two outs. DeLuzio smacked a hard grounder into left-center and legged out a double while bringing Fairchild around to score to knot the game at one. In the next at-bat, Heath cleared the bases with a two-run single to right, lifting Reno to a 3-1 advantage.

In the bottom of the second after a pair of strikeouts, the Bees threatened the Aces’ lead, loading the bases with two outs. After six straight pitches off the plate from Martin and a visit from pitching coach Jeff Bajeneru, Reno’s starter buckled down and got himself out of trouble with a groundout to second to keep the Bees at bay.

Martin went on to retired 10-in-a-row over the next three innings before getting pulled in the sixth. The right-hander tossed 5.0 solid innings, allowing just one run on three hits with six strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season.

Reno and Salt Lake were held scoreless through the sixth inning, combining for just three baserunners over that stretch, which included a Leyba single in the third and a DeLuzio double in the fourth.

The Aces broke the scoring drought in the seventh on a two-run single by Heath after back-to-back singles from Ritchie and DeLuzio to bump Reno’s lead to four, 5-1. Two batters later, Leyba knocked in Heath from third, recording his third-consecutive game with at least two hits.

Salt Lake cut its deficit to two, 6-4, in the bottom half of the seventh on a two-run double by Scott Schebler and an RBI single by Luis Rengifo. All three Bees’ runs were unearned after a fielding error by the Aces with two outs extended the inning.

Following a scoreless top of the eighth, Salt Lake tagged Reno with one run in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly to cut the Aces’ advantage to one, 6-5.

Aces’ bats teed off in the final frame, posting six runs on back-to-back homers from Leyba and Beer and a three-run shot from DeLuzio to give Reno a commanding 12-5 lead.

The Aces head back to Nevada for its first home game since Aug. 25, 2019, taking on the Las Vegas Aviators in a six-game set beginning on Thursday at 6:35 p.m., inside Greater Nevada Field. Seth Frankoff is slated to take the mound for the Aces’ home opener. Thursday’s game can be seen on the Nevada Sports Net or heard on renoaces.com or KPLY 630 AM locally with Zack Bayrouty on the call.