RENO — For the second straight night, the Reno Aces didn’t let an early deficit deter them.
The Aces, who rallied from four runs down on Wednesday night, spotting Tacoma four quick runs before scoring 10 unanswered runs en route to a 11-5 victory Thursday night before a crowd of 4,963 at Greater Nevada Field.
The Aces’ win cut Tacoma’s lead to 4.5 games with 11 games left in the regular season. The five-game series continues tonight at 7:05.
“It shows the resilience of our team,” Aces manager Phil Nevin said. “At this level it’s nice to see. We still have a big hill to climb. I think four wins was the number I had in mind.”
Reno quickly wiped out Tacoma’s 4-0 lead with four scores in the bottom of the second.
Peter O’Brien and Jack Reinheimer hit one-out singles, and Carlos Rivero followed with a slicing double to right, scoring O’Brien and sending Reinheimer to third. Todd Glaesman followed with a three-run shot to left-center field, tying the game at 4.
“It was a curveball,” Glaesman said. “It was just more reaction (than anything else). There was a base open. I figured a fastball and reacted to the curveball.
“Our offense had been struggling, but the last two games we’ve come through. The homer tied it and we ran with it from there.”
When Nevin was asked to point to one hit, he thought Glaesman’s hit was big even though it wasn’t the game-winning blow.
“It got us even,” Nevin said. “It was like yesterday when A.J. (Pollock) hit the three-run homer. You got that feeling back.”
Anybody in baseball would tell you hitting is contagious, and in this instance it was.
After Glaesman’s homer, Reno struck for 11 more hits while putting the game out of reach with one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth for a 10-4 lead.
Reno went ahead 5-4 in the third when Zach Borenstein reached on a two-out error, stole second and scored on a single to center by O’Brien.
In the fourth, Rivero doubled (he had three two-baggers) and hustled home on Dan Rohlfing’s groundball out to short right field that was briefly bobbled by Daniel Robertson. Rohlfing scored on Socrates Brito’s double. Kyle Jensen followed with a run-scoring single, extending the lead to 8-4.
Rivero doubled home a run in the fifth and scored on a Rohlfing single to make it 10-4.
Rohlfing is on a tear. He stretched his hitting streak to seven games, and he’s hitting .518 in that stretch. Not too shabby for a guy known more for his handling of pitchers.
“He’s earning his starts,” Nevin said. “He’ll be back there tonight (Friday). Nothing against Ronnie Freeman, but Dan is swinging it well.
“Dan did a great job getting (Matt) Koch back on track after that first inning on Wednesday.”
Shelby Miller had a rough outing, allowing four runs and nine hits in 4.2 innings. He didn’t pitch the required five innings to pick up the win.
Reliever Adam Loewen pitched 1.1 innings after Miller departed to pick up his fourth win in seven decisions. Reno relievers gave up just one run in 4.1 innings.
It was thought Miller was making his final start with the Aces. Nevin didn’t tip his hand one way or another even though there were Arizona Diamondbacks personnel in attendance.
“Nothing is set,” Nevin said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
ON TAP
The pitching match-ups for the rest of this five-game series are almost set. Tonight, Billy Buckner (0-0, 9.00) faces Tacoma’s Joe Wieland (12-5, 5.25), who attended Bishop Manogue. On Saturday, Matt Buschmann (8-10, 5.33) faces Jarrett Grube (1-4, 3.94), and in the home season finale and series finale on Sunday, Anthony Banda (4-3, 3.64) toes the rubber. Tacoma has yet to name a starter.
STREAKING
Brito and Jensen extended their hitting streaks to nine games each.
Brito is hitting .375 in that span, while Jensen is 15-for-39 in that stretch (.384).
Rohlfing is hitting .518 during his streak.
FREEMAN CALLED UP
Former Aces infielder Mike Freeman, who was claimed off waivers by Tacoma last month, was recalled by the Mariners Thursday morning. In 17 games with Tacoma, he went 20-for-69 (.290) with a homer and seven RBI. For the season, he’s hitting .312. It’s Freeman’s second stint with Seattle.
He went 2-for-6 in his first trip.
SWITCHING IT UP
Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher, threw two scoreless innings in relief. He fanned five and retired all six batters he faced.
