Sacramento Suffers First Road Loss at Hands of Reno

RENO, Nev. – All good things must come to an end, and so did the unblemished road record for the Sacramento River Cats as they were handed a 9-1 defeat at the hands of the Reno Aces in game four of their series on Friday.

The Aces (3-3) took the advantage early with their swings in the first by getting to River Cats (5-2) starter Carson Whisenhunt (0-1) for a pair of runs on the strength of four singles, with the latter two RBI singles from Tristin English and Alber Almora Jr. that came with two outs in the frame.

Two innings later Reno added onto its lead, doing so with one swing of the bat thanks to Kevin Newman who hit the first pitch of the third over the wall in right to make it 3-0. Continuing the offense, the Aces tacked on three more in the fourth after an error at shortstop in front of a Jancarlos Cintron single set the stage for a three-run homer by Jorge Barrosa to left center.

After a final strikeout, Whisenhunt exited the contest in favor of right-hander Daulton Jefferies, who kept the Aces off the board for most of his 4.1 innings except for the sixth. Consecutive singles to open the frame put a pair on, allowing Barrosa and Jose Herrera to each collect an RBI with their own base knocks. Later in the inning, the final run of the frame on a sacrifice fly from Kyle Garlick.

Sacramento prevented the shutout with a run in the top of the seventh, scoring once on a double play ball by last night’s winning pitcher, Donovan Walton. The inning was poised to be much larger than just a single run, with Blake Sabol drawing a walk to lead off while Yusniel Diaz followed immediately with a single. Another walk, this time to Ismael Munguia, loaded the bases, until Walton’s double play traded one run for two outs leaving a final line out by Luis Matos to end the inning.

Whisenhunt was charged with the loss after allowing the first runs of his Triple-A career, yielding six (five earned) on eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. Jefferies went the rest of the 4.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits with two walks and four punchouts.

On the other side, Reno starter Cristian Mesa (2-0) made it into the seventh inning. He eventually left after 6.0+ innings while allowing just the one run on five hits, though he walked three and struck out only two.

Pacing Sacramento at the plate was Marco Luciano, who was 3-for-4 on the night which included a single that came off the bat at 106.0 mph in the top of the first. Each game that Luciano has tallied a hit has been a multi-hit effort, as he now has four multi-hit games including a pair of contests with three base knocks. Also collecting hits were Matos (1-for-4, double), Diaz (1-for-3), and Walton (1-for-3).

Both teams will return to the field of Greater Nevada Field for game five of this series on Saturday, with first pitch at 4:05 p.m.