Aces baseball recap: Tacoma rallies in 6th inning, crush Reno 13-6
Submitted by Isaiah Burrows on Fri, 06/23/2017 - 11:32pm
Event Date:
June 23, 2017 - 7:00pm
After a 4-3 comeback victory, the Reno Aces and Tacoma Rainiers faced off Friday for the second time in the four game series.
Starting pitcher Aaron Laffey (Reno, 4-0 3.35 ERA) took the mound hoping to keep his loss column spotless, going up against starting pitcher Casey Lawrence (Tacoma, 0-0 4.09 ERA).
Reno got off to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning, as Oswaldo Arcia smacked an RBI single between right and center. Putting the Aces up 1-0 to end the first inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd and Tacoma threatening to score, Laffey put away the top of the second with an easy pop fly. Keeping the 1-0 lead in the Aces’ grasp heading into the bottom half of the inning.
The pendulum soon swung in the Rainiers’ favor in the top of the fourth, as Tyler O’Neil’s 2 run blast to deep left field put Tacoma up 2-1. Ending the offensive lulls by both teams in the early stages of the intense matchup.
Reno stormed back in a ferocious way the next half inning, as the Aces jumped on a 5 hit, 4 run 4th inning. Highlighted with RBI’s from: Arcia (solo HR), Zach Borenstein (triple), Kristopher Negron (triple), and Rudy Flores (double). Giving them a cozy 5-2 lead with 5 innings left of play.
The three run deficit for the Rainiers was soon erased during the top of the sixth inning, as catcher Steven Baron’s 2 RBI single sliced the Reno lead to just one run. Five more runs would be scored from Tacoma, as a flurry of hits from the offense ultimately took its toll on Laffey and relief pitcher Daniel Gibson. RBI’s from: Daniel Vogelbach, Gordon Beckham, Tyler O’Neil, and Zach Shank put them in the driver’s seat with a 9-5 lead.
The struggles continued for Reno during the seventh inning, as two more runs were added to the already enormous lead. Making the score 11-5, heavily Tacoma’s favor. O’Neil connected on his second big fly of the game, adding another 2 RBI’s to his already stuffed stat sheet in the top of the ninth inning.
The Tacoma Rainiers tallied 21 total hits during the contest, as they crushed the Reno Aces with a score of 13-6.
After the lopsided defeat, Kristopher Negron described the game-changing sixth inning in the opponents’ favor, “That’s the game of baseball sometimes,” Negron said, “at times the baseball can have eyes. They were starting to barrell the ball into six holes that we couldn’t get to, and they made plays because of that.”
Negron also described his approach at the plate, “I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” he said, “just trying to take it one pitch at a time and grind out a good at bat.”
For Tacoma, Casey Lawrence pitched 4 ⅔ innings, giving up 5 earned runs on 7 hits and 4 walks with 4 strikeouts. Jonathan Aro, Dean Kiekhefer, and Emilio Pagan all came in relief. Leonys Martin finished 2 for 5 with 2 singles. Daniel Vogelbach went 3 for 6 with 3 singles and 1 RBI. Gordon Beckham finished 2 for 5 with a single, double, and RBI. D.J. Peterson finished 4 for 5 with 4 singles and 1 RBI. Tyler O’Neil finished 3 for 6 with a double, 2 home runs, and 7 RBI’s. Steve Baron went 4 for 5 with 4 singles and 1 RBI. Boog Powell added 2 singles and Zach Shank added 1 RBI.
For Reno, Aaron Laffey pitched 5 ⅓ innings, giving up 7 earned runs on 11 hits and 3 walks with 3 strikeouts. Daniel Gibson, Matt Stites, and Louis Coleman all came in relief. Oswaldo Arcia went 3 for 5 with a single, double, home run, and 2 RBI’s. Kristopher Negron finished 2 for 3 with 2 triples and 1 RBI. Rudy Flores went 1 for 3 with a double and 2 RBI’s. Hank Conger finished 2 for 4 with 2 singles. Zach Borenstein finished added an RBI triple. Jack Reinheimer added 1 hit.
Reno and Tacoma will face off Saturday June 24, playing out the third game of the thrilling four game series.
