Reno falls in extras, 10-9, to Salt Lake

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – After a wild ninth inning that saw six runs scored by the Reno Aces to force extra innings, a walk-off home run by the Salt Lake Bees in the tenth knocked off the visiting team, 10-9, in Utah on Monday night.

Reno did not go down without a fight in the top of the ninth. After a leadoff walk to Stuart Fairchild and Renae Martinez getting hit by a pitch, Jamie Ritchie smacked his second hit of the night to left, driving in Fairchild on his one-out double and cutting the lead to five, 8-3. In the next at-bat, Salt Lake’s left fielder dropped a short fly ball, allowing Martinez to cross the plate and slashing the Bees’ advantage to four, 8-4.

Two batters later, Josh Reddick silenced the Bees’ crowd with a three-run blast to right, bringing Reno to within one, 8-7. In the very next at-bat and down to his final strike, Domingo Leyba delivered a game-tying solo shot and pushed the game into extras.

Reno took the lead, 9-8, in the top of the tenth, but on the first pitch of the bottom half, Harrison Wenson ended the game with a two-run home run and gave the Bees a 10-9 victory.

Three Aces extended their hitting streaks in Utah on Monday. Juniel Querecuto registered base knocks in three-straight after drilling his second home run of the season in the second inning. Leyba continued his offensive success by stretching his streak to six with a single in the sixth. Joining the duo in the base-knock extension was Ritchie, who registered his fifth-consecutive contest with a hit when he smacked a single to open the third.

Despite the loss, skipper Blake Lalli is off to the best start of his managerial career, going 4-1 to open the 2021 campaign. His four wins surpass the 3-2 record he had with High-A Visalia in 2018 and a 2-3 mark with Double-A Jackson in 2019.

The Aces threatened early, working back-to-back walks to Nick Heath and Drew Ellis to start the game but were halted on an unassisted double play and kept off the board in the first.

Salt Lake made Reno’s starter Zach Lee work in the bottom half of the opening frame, seeing 27 pitches and forcing a two-out, bases-loaded situation after a pair of walks and an error by Seth Beer. Lee got himself out of the first unscathed, forcing a groundout to end the inning and keeping score deadlocked at zero after one.

Reno took a 1-0 lead in the top half of the second on Querecuto’s second home run of the series. The 28-year-old left-handed hitter belted an 0-1 pitch the opposite way and sent the ball over the left-field wall.

The advantage was short-lived for the Aces as the Bees tagged Lee with a pair in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead. Following back-to-back singles and Reno’s second error of the game, Salt Lake knocked in both runs on hard-hit groundouts, forcing Aces’ infielders to make a play at first and allowing two runners to score.

Reno tied the game at two off the bat of Josh Reddick in the top of the third. Designated hitter Ritchie drilled a line drive over the outstretched glove of the Bees’ shortstop into left to lead off the inning before advancing to third on a Heath double to right. With second and third and one out, Reddick slapped an 0-1 pitch to left far enough for Ritchie to cross the plate on a sacrifice fly.

The Aces’ Lee struggled in the bottom half of the third, finding himself in another bases-loaded situation with one out. Much like the opening frame, the right-hander worked out of trouble, fanning Torii Hunter Jr., and forcing Harrison Wenson to groundout to Leyba and keeping the score at 2-2.

After a scoreless fourth, Martinez worked a leadoff walk and swiped his first base in nearly three years. The Aces’ catcher last recorded a steal on Aug. 8, 2018, against Lake Elsinore while in High-A with Visalia. The Aces’ continued to threaten with a walk to Ellis but left the duo stranded on base to end the top of the fifth.

The Bees took their second lead of the evening in the fifth on a two-run shot from Hunter Jr., putting the Aces’ behind, 4-2. In the following inning, Salt Lake’s Jo Adell increased his squad’s lead to three on a solo shot to center, giving the Bees a 5-2 advantage after six.

Following a scoreless top of the seventh, Aces’ Ryan Buchter worked a perfect bottom half, tossing 13 pitches and fanning a pair of Bees.

Salt Lake tacked on three runs off a homer by Adell in the eighth to give the Bees a six-run lead, 8-2.

After the six-run ninth to send the game to extras, Christian Lopes was put on second to start the tenth. Stuart Fairchild slapped a line drive to right and brought Lopes around to score, giving the Aces their first lead, 9-8, since the second inning.

On the first pitch in the bottom of the tenth, Harrison Wenson sent everyone home on a two-run shot, giving the Bees their first win of the year.

Reno returns to Smith’s Ballpark on Tuesday for the series finale with Salt Lake, beginning at 5:35 p.m. PT. Corbin Martin is slated to take the mound for the Aces in the final contest of the six-game set. Tomorrow’s game can be heard on renoaces.com or KPLY 630 AM locally with Zack Bayrouty on the call.