Cats Stymied by Aces on Saturday, 6-1

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Saturday marked the second straight loss for the Sacramento River Cats, pushing across a run in the bottom of the fifth but still falling shy of the Reno Aces by a 6-1 final.

A three-run frame for the Aces (18-13/53-53) in the third got the action going, plating all thee runs on one swing of the bat from Adrian Del Castillo. His 24th home run of the year sailed over the wall in right field, scoring Matt Beaty and Bryson Brigman to take the early 3-0 lead.

The River Cats (14-18/58-49) cut into the lead in the bottom of the fifth, turning a Hunter Bishop single into a run thanks to a sacrifice fly from Will Wilson, his first RBI since re-joining Sacramento on Thursday.

However, it was hardly a match for Reno as the Aces went on to add a pair of tallies in the sixth and one in the seventh. It started with a two-RBI single from Bryson Brigman in the fifth, and then Brigman earned an RBI on a bases-loaded walk that brought the score to its final of 6-1.

Charged with the loss was Sacramento starter Kai-Wei Teng (1-4), who yielded three runs on four hits with one walk and one strikeout over 3.2 innings. Only two River Cats hurlers tossed a scoreless outing, which included the Triple-A debut of Jose Cruz. He worked a combined inning and recorded all three of his outs via the strikeout without recording a hit, but he did issue a pair of walks. The other was Tyler Myrick, who worked the final 1.1 innings while allowing only one hit.

There is still a chance for the River Cats to capture a series victory when the two teams line up for the series finale on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. from Sutter Health Park.