Homers Spell Defeat for Reno Against Sacramento on Thursday

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The long ball was the theme of the night, but unfortunately for the Reno Aces the majority were hit by the Sacramento River Cats as they powered their way to a 6-3 victory over Reno on Thursday.

Four of the 10 hits for the River Cats (19-15) left the yard, starting with a homer from Harrison Bader on a rehab assignment in the bottom of the first. The Aces (18-18) matched with a solo home run of their own from Tyler Locklear, also on a rehab assignment, to start the top of the second inning.

Not finished with the frame, Andrew Velazquez drove in a run with a groundout while Ryan Waldschmidt singled through the left side with two outs for his 22nd RBI of the season.

However, those runs were the final of the game for Reno, while the River Cats went on to score three times in the third and once in each the fifth and seventh frames. Home runs continued to fly for Sacramento, finishing with four total on the night.

Three of those four homers came from players on rehab assignments, as Daniel Susac launched a two-run homer in the third and a solo shot in the fifth.

Making his season debut with Reno, starter Tommy Henry (0-1) was tagged for three of the four Sacramento homers, allowing four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk in three full frames. The three home runs allowed by Henry matches his career high at any level, the fourth time he has done so with the last coming on June 5, 2025 as a member of Arizona against Atlanta.

Of the seven hits by the Aces, a total of six came during the first two innings. The only hit from the third inning on was a single from LuJames Groover in the fifth frame, which extended his team-best on base streak to 29 games. In fact, the Aces had just three base runners from the third inning on, two walks while Christian Cerda reached on an error.

Returning from a day off, Waldschmidt ended his night 2-for-5 with an RBI while Kristian Robinson scored once while also logging two hits in four trips.

Locklear’s home run marked the third time this season that an Ace has homered in their Reno debut, joining the duo of Cerda and Danny Serretti. He ended his first rehab contest at 1-for-3 with his homer and a walk, but Carlos Santana was 0-for-4 and is now 2-for-19 (.105) on the assignment.

Sacramento has snagged each of the last two games in this series, and the Aces will look to pull even when the two teams line up for game four of the series on Friday at 6:45 p.m. from Sutter Health Park.