Best pitcher: Josh Green (Triple-A Reno) - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO
Best hitter: Corbin Carroll (High-A Hillsboro) - four R, 3-for-4, TPL, HR, two RBI, BB
Reno Aces 8, Salt Lake Bees 3
Josh Green was excellent in his start for Reno, pitching six innings, allowing a run on six hits via a solo home run, with no walks a four strikeouts. Carlos Navas pitched two scoreless, hitless innings, with just a walk allowed. West Tunnel struggled in ninth, getting just one out and allowing two runs on three walks and a hit. Sam Moll relieved Tunnel with the bases loaded and only one out, and got a pair of groundouts to end the inning, though an inherited runner did score.
The Aces plated a run in the third, two runs in the fourth, and added three more runs in the seventh, and a pair of insurance in the eighth thanks to the hot bots of Seth Beer and Renae Martinez, who both hit two doubles in the game. Seth Beer was 2-4 with the pair of doubles, while Renae Martinez was 2-4 with a pair of doubles and a walk. Domingo Leyba and Christian Lopes were both 2-5, and Nick Heath was 2-4 with a double and a walk.
Amarillo Sod Poodles 5 Tulsa Drillers 4
Humberto Mejia was solid in his start for Amarillo, with six innings pitched, and two runs allowed on six hits and a walk, but struck out an impressive nine batters. Justin Vernia took over, and allow two runs in his inning of work, but in an example of the meaningless of pitcher decisions, he got the win. That’s because the Sod Poodles came back from a 4-1 deficit with a four-run eighth. Dominic Miroglio had a two-run single, and Camden Duzenacl followed later in the inning with a two-run homer, his first of the year.
Tasked with protecting a one-run lead, Justin Lewis didn’t make it easy for himself, hitting the first two batters he faced. But with the tying run on third and one out, he got back-to-back K’s to escape the jam, and Luis Castillo closed out the game for his first save. Every Amarillo batter except Miroglio had two strikeouts, for a total of 17 K’s on the night, and the teams cmbined for 29 strikeouts against just three walks.
Visalia Rawhide 5 Lake Elsinore Storm 4
The Rawhide finally got their opening victory of 2021, at their sixth attempt. But it wasn’t as easy as it seemed it might be after they jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Manuel Garcia had a two-run single, with Neyfy Castillo and Ronnie Simon also getting RBI. However, their only run thereafter came in the seventh inning, on an RBI single by Wilderd Patino. Castillo and Simon each had two of Visalia’s eight hits,
They had to withstand a steady comeback by the Storm, who spurned a ton of chances, being 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Starter Liam Norris was inefficient, needing 74 pitches to get through 3.2 innings, allowing a run on four hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Harrison Francis got the win for four scoreless outs in relief, and Mailon Arrouo notched a five-out save. He stranded the tying run in scoring position in the eighth, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win.
Everett AquaSox 8 Hillsboro Hops 7 (10 innings)
Hillsboro fell short of completing the sweep, blowing a two-run lead in the ninth, before finally falling in extras. Corbin Carroll had three hits and scored four runs, falling a double short of the cycle. His home-run with one out in the bottom of the ninth tied the game back up, after Yaramil Haraldo had allowed three runs in the top of the inning, blowing a 5-3 lead. Starter Kenny Hernandez went four innings, being charged with two runs on two hits and three walks, with four strikeouts. Denson Hull had two scoreless innings of relief.
Kyler Stout took over fot the 10th inning, but the AquaSox were able to push over an additional run, as well as the man starting the inning on second-base. The Hops scored their placed runner in the bottom half, getting a leadoff single from Axel Anduesa, but he was then unable to move from there. Buddy Kennedy went 2-for-3 and Spencer Brickhouse also had a pair of hits for Hillsboro.