LAS VEGAS – The Reno Aces won the season series from the Las Vegas 51s for the second time in franchise history with a 3-2 victory on Monday before 3,511 fans at Cashman Field. Kyle Jensen sparked Reno with a pair of solo home runs on a night when the teams totaled just 12 hits and went a combined 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. The 51s opened the scoring with a leadoff home run from Dilson Herrera in the bottom of the first. Reno tied the game in the second on a productive groundout by Carlos Rivero that scored Peter O’Brien, who had drawn a one-out walk and then gone first-to-third on a hit-and-run off the bat of Jack Reinheimer. Both clubs were scoreless for the next four innings until the Aces took a 2-1 lead when Jensen led off the seventh with a solo home run. Las Vegas (51-50) evened the score at two in the bottom of the eighth when Eric Campbell led off with a single to left, coming around to score on T.J. Rivera’s RBI double to right.The Aces (56-46) answered promptly, as Jensen launched his second homer of the game, a game-winning solo shot to left-center, to lead off the ninth and put Reno ahead 3-2.
The Aces return home for an eight-game homestand beginning Tuesday with the opener of a four-game series against the Sacramento River Cats. First pitch from Greater Nevada Field is set for 7:05 p.m. PT. Reno will send right-hander Matt Buschmann (7-6, 5.03) to the mound, while southpaw Adalberto Mejia (3-1, 4.29) will pitch for Sacramento.
•••
The Reno Aces, in conjunction with the Arizona Diamondbacks, announced the contract of right-handed pitcher Braden Shipley has been purchased by the D-backs.
In 19 starts with the Aces, Shipley went 8-5 with a 3.70 ERA (49 ER/119.1 IP) and 77 strikeouts. On the Pacific Coast League leaderboard, the former Nevada Wolf Pack star ranks among the circuit’s best in innings pitched (1st), fewest walks per 9.0 innings (4th, 1.66), ERA (8th) and wins (T-8th).
Ranked as Arizona’s No. 1 prospect by MLB.com and Baseball America, Shipley, 24, made his Major League debut against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Monday.
Shipley had his debut spoiled as Martin Maldonado hit a three-run homer and the Milwaukee Brewers went deep four times Monday night, in a 7-2 victory over the Diamondbacks.
•••
Outfielder Mitch Haniger has been awarded Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for his performance from July 18-24. The weekly honor is his first in the PCL and third of his career, with the others coming in 2013 (Arizona Fall League) and 2015 (California League).
Haniger, 25, hit .484 (15-for-31) with six home runs, four doubles, 13 RBI, 12 runs scored, 37 total bases, a 1.194 slugging percentage and 1.736 OPS in seven games. He became the first player in the PCL with 37-plus total bases in a single week since May 21-27, 2007, when Omaha’s Craig Brazell amounted 38.
Since his promotion from Double-A Mobile to Reno on June 10, Haniger is batting .390 (62-for-159) with 18 homers, one triple, 11 doubles, 45 RBI, 42 runs scored, an .811 slugging percentage and a 1.265 OPS. Through 42 games with the Aces, he leads all Triple-A players in average, hits, runs, extra-base hits (30), total bases (129), home runs, slugging and OPS.
