From Aces Ballpark in Reno. The River Cats won, 17-6. Chris Carter's first 3 homers with Sacramento, along with 7 RBI, led a 20-hit attack as 7 River Cats had multiple hits, including 4 by Matt Carson and 3 each by Carter, Chris Denorfia and Brett Wallace. Carson and Tommy Everidge also hit home runs, Everidge's hitting the top of the scoreboard. Josh Whitesell and Luke Carlin had 3 hits apiece for the Aces and Cole Gillespie homered. Reno's Seth Etherton gave up 10 runs on 12 hits in 5 innings along with 4 homers, and Scott Dohmann allowed 7 more in the 9th. Chad Reineke pitched into the 6th for Sacramento, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.

This was the first of two straight for me in Reno, which is around two and a half hours from home now, not a bad drive. After joking with a few people that of the eight or nine games I've probably seen Chris Carter in I'd only seen him make good contact a couple times, he made up for it pretty well with the three home runs. Since going to games beginning in the mid-1980s, I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've seen someone hit three in a game in person. It was just all Sacramento all night, though there was a moment where Reno was down 10-6 with the bases loaded. That was as close as they'd get though they did win the next night and ended up taking the series 3-1.

Aces Ballpark still feels like a nice place to work for a photographer because their lighting is good for a minor league facility, the outfield walls don't have ads plastered all over them (yet) and there are a number of good spots to shoot from. I've been a little slow to get these up because I spent some time in Virginia City on the way home (which you can see here if you're interested in some non-baseball stuff - I enjoy going to places like this) and have been busy with the job and work around the house, but there are 80 shots here with some to follow behind the jump.

Aces Ballpark from the hotel room (The Silver Legacy in this case. Hey, $40 a night isn't that bad when they know they're going to get it back in the casino anyway):

Oh, hey. It's Eric Byrnes:

Seth Etherton definitely didn't have it tonight:

Chris Carter goes deep for the first time:

Chad Reineke didn't have a great game but he got more than enough runs to win:

Chris Roberson drops down a perfect bunt single that hits third base:

Josh Whitesell:

Cole Gillespie takes one for the team:

Byrnes takes his lead from first:

Gillespie and Byrnes, who scored twice:

Brad Kilby:

Jeff Baisley, strummin':

Scott Patterson time:

Scott Dohmann had a 9th to forget:

Brandon Watson might be wondering, "Who should I give this ball to?"

Carter watches the flight of his third round-tripper:

Patterson is definitely a source of fun shots: