Robinson’s Leadoff Blast Sets Tone for Aces in Friday Victory

SUGAR LAND, Tex. – After starting the game with a bang, the Reno Aces kept the offense moving and built a lead to withstand the Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Friday by an 8-5 final.

The Aces (29-31/61-74) scored all eight of their runs in the first four frames, but the first run of the game came when fans were still finding their seats as Kristian Robinson crushed a 2-1 offering deep over the wall in left center for a leadoff home run.

That blast marked the sixth leadoff homer of the season for Reno, and exactly half of those six have come from the bat of Robinson. He was also the most recent Ace to do so, achieving the feat during a 7-4 defeat on Aug. 9 against El Paso.

Santiago Espinal joined the dinger party in the next inning, but his blast came in two-run fashion after Demetrio Crisantes kicked off the inning with a single to center. It has been an impressive stretch of late for Espinal, as he has hits in seven of nine games with Reno including each of his last six.

In the home half of the second the Space Cowboys (37-24/69-66) reached the scoreboard for the first time, but Reno kept their feet on the gas by plating a quartet of runs in the top of the third. Taking a page out of yesterday’s book was Gavin Conticello, as he ripped a triple to center with the bases loaded that cleared them all and earned three RBI. Conticello scored in the next at-bat when Espinal singled through the right side for the latter’s third RBI as well.

Sugar Land hit a homer of their own while trying to keep pace in the third, a solo shot from Pascanel Ferreras, but it was equalized in the top of the fourth on an RBI groundout from Jose Fernandez.

Reno starter Yu-Min Lin could not make it through the fifth inning after allowing four runs on seven hits, as he also walked four while striking out five. The bullpen went the rest of the way for the Aces and had a solo hiccup in the bottom of the ninth when Collin Price led off the frame with Sugar Land’s second solo homer of the game.

Kade Strowd (4-2) entered after Lin for the Aces and collected the victory, striking out three of the four batters that he faced without a walk or hit allowed. Southpaw Spencer Giesting followed with the next 2.1 frames while allowing only the one run on a homer, and Juan Burgos (S, 2) shut the door by earning the final two outs for his second save.

Robinson and Espinal were the only two Aces with multi-hit games, the former ending his game 2-for-5 with two runs scored, a double and his homer. Meanwhile, Espinal logged one other hit outside his homer in addition to his three RBI.

Tonight’s victory has earned the Aces at minimum a series split, but they will look for the outright set victory on Saturday when these two teams meet for game five of this series at Constellation Field beginning at 5:05 p.m. PT.