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PCL Sacramento River Cats

Season-High Seven Homers Help Cats Split Series with Aviators

June 11, 2023 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sacramento River Cats News Release


WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A barrage of long balls led to more history for the Sacramento River Cats in their series finale against the Las Vegas Aviators, clobbering seven home runs leading to their largest margin of victory this season with an 18-2 win on Sunday.

Entering the day having slugged 12 home runs over the previous four games, the River Cats (29-34) closed out the six-game set against the Aviators (29-34) by hitting over half of that number. It was the most times leaving the yard in a single game since they also hit seven here at Sutter Health Park against the Reno Aces in a 12-6 win on May 6, 2019.

Four of the day's homers came during the third inning, the first of two seven-run frames in the game for the River Cats, which tied their most runs in any inning this season. Sitting in a 1-1 contest after each team scored once in the second, the third started with two loud cracks of the bat as Luis Matos and Brett Wisely combined to hit back-to-back home runs. That was the second time in as many days that Sacramento hit homers in consecutive at-bats, a feat they also accomplished last season on Aug. 20 and 21 against this same Las Vegas squad.

A walk and a single put two runners aboard with no outs as the third continued, and next to lift off was Ford Proctor who sent his blast over the wall in left-center field. Finally, it was Shane Matheny, as his two-run dinger with two outs pushed the score to 8-1.

This was believed to be just the third instance in franchise history (since 2000) that the River Cats have slugged four homers in the same inning, though no home run data is available from 2000-2004. The first such instance came on Sept. 4, 201,7 when Sacramento hit four during the ninth inning in a 10-9 extra-innings win over the El Paso Chihuahuas. Meanwhile, the other occurrence came on May 11, 2021, with all four coming in the second inning against Las Vegas though Sacramento wound up on the losing end of a 10-7 decision.

Twelve hitters came to the plate over the course of the third, but only one logged multiple hits in the frame with that being Matos. Following his solo homer that began the inning, he also recorded the final hit with a single to right center, making him the first River Cat to log two knocks in the same inning since Jason Vosler also did so on Aug. 31 of last year against Tacoma.

Already with one homer to his name, Proctor swatted his second big fly of the day during the fourth inning, sending a full-count pitch over the wall in straightaway center field. That helped him (at the time) become the third River Cat to have a two-home run game along with Wilson (6/9/23 vs. Las Vegas) and Clint Coulter (5/19/23 at Reno).

Las Vegas tried to counter with a home run of their own, as Dermis Garcia hit his 12th of the season on a full count in the top of the fifth. However, Sacramento snatched that run back and plus one more when Wisely lined a ball down the right-field line during the bottom of the frame, scoring two on the play that pushed the advantage to 11-2.

Far from done with the scoring, the other seven-run inning came during the home half of the eighth, with all seven runs crossing on another pair of home runs. Loading the bases with a single and two walks, Coulter drove them all in when he mashed a ball deep into left field for the second gram slam this season by a River Cat. Doing so first this year was Shane Matheny on May 9 against Salt Lake, and Sacramento is now a third of the way to their total of six grand slams from last campaign.

Responsible for the closing four-bagger was Matos, hitting his second of the day in the form of a solo shot to join Proctor as the two River Cats with multiple home runs. That feat was also accomplished once last season, as both David Villar and Luis Gonzalez did so on April 16 in a win on the road against Reno. For Matos, it was his first two-homer game since he also hit two as a member of the San Jose Giants on Aug. 13, 2021.

That final dinger resulted in a score of 18-2, which not only is the largest margin of victory this season but was the largest since the River Cats set a franchise record in a 20-1 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Aug. 25, 2014.

Somewhat forgotten with all of the game's offense was the first start on his major league rehab appearance by left-hander Alex Wood, who hurled 3.0 innings and yielded just one run on three hits with a punchout. Upon his exit he flipped the ball to Nick Avila (8-0), who received credit for the victory to once again tie for the Triple-A lead in wins along with Cody Bradford of Round Rock.

Following Avila's appearance, four Sacramento relievers combined to keep the Aviators off of the scoreboard for the final four innings. Among those relievers included both Mauricio Llovera and Sean Newcomb, both of whom came off the injured list today. Along with Cole Waites and Erik Miller, the quartet allowed just two hits (both by Newcomb) and fanned seven batters (two each except one for Miller).

All nine River Cats scored at least one run in the contest, and eight of the nine totaled hits with Matos, Wisely and Proctor all recording three-hit efforts. For Matos, it was his seventh three-knock day to give him a total of 14 multi-hit games (in just 23 games played), making him the outright team leader ahead of the 13 by Casey Schmitt. Proctor crossed the plate a total of four times, which is the most by a River Cat in any game this season. Additionally, the trio of Matos, Proctor and Coulter all had four-RBI days.

Sacramento will look to keep up their momentum as they embark on their longest road trip of the season beginning next week. First, they will have six games in Sugar Land, Tex. when they take on the Space Cowboys from June 13-18, then will continue on in Texas against Round Rock from June 20-25.

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