Redhawks Stunned By Aces Rally

Trailing by three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Reno Aces scored four runs within the span of 10 pitches to stun the Oklahoma City RedHawks with a 7-6 comeback victory at Aces Ballpark Wednesday night.

The Aces (41-32) entered the bottom of the ninth inning leading 6-3. Andy Marte and Danny Dorn started off the rally with back-to-back singles before Blake Lalli was hit with a pitch by Andrew Robinson (0-1).

Tyler Bortnick then lined a bases-clearing double to right field to tie the game. Bortnick ended up at third on the play after a throwing error by RedHawks right fielder Preston Tucker.

Michael Freeman stepped up next and sent a grounder through the middle for the game-winning hit.

The loss was the RedHawks' second when leading after eight innings this year, and the win was Reno's second when trailing after eight innings.

Prior to the ninth inning, the Aces had been held hitless since the fourth inning. Following Asher Wojciechowski in an abbreviated start, David Martinez cruised through the Aces lineup. Martinez retired 13-of-15 batters and did not allow a hit or a walk to any of the last 13 batters he faced, throwing just 52 pitches over 4.2 innings.

The RedHawks (40-34) had another strong night at the plate, collecting 14 hits. Five players finished with a multi-hit game, led by Domingo Santana's game-high three hits.

Santana's first hit was a RBI single in the third inning to take a 1-0 lead.

The Aces took their first lead of the series in the bottom of the fourth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Freeman drove a 3-1 pitch off the center field wall for a bases-clearing triple, putting Reno in front, 3-1.

The RedHawks would answer with three runs of their own in the next inning. Tucker drew a bases loaded walk to pull Oklahoma City within one. With two outs, Gregorio Petit shot a single through the right side of the infield to bring home two runs and give the RedHawks a 4-3 lead.

The RedHawks added another in the sixth when L.J. Hoes legged out an infield single to score Austin Wates to make it 5-3.

Petit laid down a perfect squeeze bunt in the ninth inning to score Matt Duffy, giving the Redhawks what seemed like a sizable lead heading into Reno's final at-bat. Petit finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

Although he gave up the run in the top of the ninth, Kevin Munson (3-2) walked away with the win.

The RedHawks will try and bounce back when they face the Aces at 9:05 p.m. central time Thursday night.