PCL Reno Aces

Aces Notes

Published on June 21, 2021 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Reno Aces News Release


Non-Stop:

Since its June 13 game against Las Vegas, the Biggest Little City's team is on its longest winning streak of the season, emerging victorious in seven straight. Reno is slashing .395/.488/.779 through the six-game stretch with 107 hits, 54 of which have gone for extra bases.

Reno has outscored its opponents, 95-44, while on its seven-game winning streak.

Of the 11 Aces to record a batting average of .333 or over, Camden Duzenack (.563) and Matt Lipka (.556) are the only two with marks exceeding .500. Lipka leads all Aces with 15 hits while Andrew Young paces the active roster with 11 RBIs over that span.

The Aces are believed to be the only team in baseball history to record 14 or more runs in at least four straight contests, rounding out their streak at five.

Josh VanMeter and Humberto Mejia picked up respective Player and Pitcher of the Week honors by MiLB.com on Monday. VanMeter dominated the opposition last week, tallying three multi-home run games in five appearances and slashing .524/.643/1.476 with a 2.119 OPS. Humberto Mejia put forth a quality start on June 18, allowing one unearned run on three hits in six innings of work and striking out six en route to his first Triple-A win.

Never Satisfied:

Through 17 games in June, Reno is the hottest team in all of baseball. Blake Lalli's team is leading all squads with a .334 batting average at the dish, 161 runs scored and 207 hits.

The Aces' batting average is 32 points ahead of the second-place New Hampshire Fisher Cats with a .302 average.

The team's 161 runs are also 34 tallies ahead of the second-best mark set by the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (127).

Among players who have appeared in at least 10 games this month, Jamie Ritchie leads all of Triple-A West with a slash line of .462/.632/.590.

Drew Ellis has scored a team-leading 18 runs this month while Andrew Young and Seth Beer sit right behind him with 17.

Daulton Varsho became the first player in franchise history to smack two home runs in the same inning after taking Isotopes' pitchers deep for a solo shot and his first career grand slam on June 18.

Young hit a grand slam in the series opener on Thursday before Varsho roped his in Friday night's game, becoming the first pair since Oswaldo Arcia and Ildemaro Vargas on July 5-6, 2017, to take the opposition deep for a grand slam in back-to-back games.

Wait for It:

The Aces are the scariest squad after the sixth frame, leading all of Triple-A with a .352 batting average, 166 hits and 33 doubles in the seventh inning or later. The team's batting average sits 87 points ahead of Durham's and Buffalo's second-place mark of .265.

With its Minor League-leading 138 runs scored in the seventh inning or later, the Biggest Little City's team has 38 more runs than second-place Carolina Mud Cats with 96.

Reno holds the top spot in Minor League Baseball when trailing with a .313 batting average and 116 runs scored, while also being one of three teams (Lake Elsinore Storm and Asheville Tourists) to score 100 or more runs when behind.

Jamie Ritchie and Duzenack are Reno's best hitters in the seventh inning or later, combining for 32 hits in 70 at-bats with 18 runs scored and 23 RBIs. Bryan Holaday leads all Aces with 17 RBIs.

The Aces' 46 runs scored and .331 batting average in the seventh inning ranks first in all of MiLB. Seth Beer has recorded a Minor League-high nine runs and five doubles in the seventh frame.

In the eighth inning alone, the Aces lead the Minors with a .360 batting average, 63 hits, 17 doubles, 11 home runs and 54 runs scored.

Lalli's squad has crossed the plate 36 times and is hitting .360 in the ninth inning alone, the highest marks in all of professional baseball.

Not Throwing Away Their Shot:

The Aces' bats have been stellar to start the 2021 campaign, serving as the only team in professional baseball with a team batting average of over .300 with a .309 mark at the dish.

The team's average at the dish sits 27 points ahead of second-place Sacramento and Sugar Land (.282).

Reno ranks atop the Triple-A leaderboard with 319 runs scored, scoring 60 more runs than second-place Las Vegas with 259.

Seth Beer is atop the Triple-A West leaderboard with 19 doubles this season while Jamie Ritchie continues to rank first with a .414 batting average and a .553 on-base percentage.

The Aces have been dominant in the second half of contests, either tying the game or taking a commanding lead on 12 occasions this season. Reno boasts a 9-2 record when they come back to tie the game by a deficit of three or more runs. The Aces also scored six runs in the top of the ninth to put the contest against Salt Lake well out of reach, 12-5, on May 11.

Check out the Reno Aces Statistics

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Pacific Coast League Stories from June 21, 2021


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