Krizan, Walker homer to earn series split with 1st place Reno 

Reno, Nev. — Home runs by second baseman Jason Krizan and center fielder Steele Walker fueled the Sacramento River Cats (62-77) to a 7-4 win and series split over the first place Reno Aces (77-62) in Sunday’s series finale.

Sacramento struck first in the top of the second inning. Third baseman Ford Proctor followed a one-out walk to catcher Andrew Knapp with an RBI double.

Walker doubled the lead an inning later, launching a 414-foot, 102.9 MPH exit velocity solo shot.

After Reno scored its first run in the fourth, and the teams traded zeros in the fifth and sixth, Krizan added some insurance with his 15th big fly of the season, a 419-foot solo homer (104.1 MPH exit velocity).

The River Cats broke the game open in eighth with four runs. Shortstop Dixon Machado and Walker had back-to-back RBI singles. Two batters later, left fielder Jason Vosler made it 7-2 with a two-run single.

Righty Wei-Chieh Huang struck out one while allowing two hits and one walk in 3.0 shutout innings before right-hander Zack Littell took over and surrendered a run.

Left-hander Andrew Vasquez shut down the Aces over the final 1.2 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out one to earn his first save. The 29-year-old is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA, 17 strikeouts, a 0.95 WHIP, and a .182 opposing batting average in 12.2 innings with Sacramento.

Lefty Enmanuel De Jesus (4-3, 4.55) will start the River Cats’ series-opener at Salt Lake on Monday. He’ll take on righty Davis Daniel (5-6, 4.85) at 5:35 p.m. (PT). Listen to Johnny Doskow call the game online at rivercats.com or on the MiLB First Pitch app.

Additional Notes

• Machado and first baseman Patrick Mazeika each had three singles while Walker and Krizan both recorded two hits.
• Right-hander Spencer Bivens (1-0) followed Littell with one unearned run on three hits and no walks while striking out two in 2.2 innings to earn his first Triple-A win.