Aces swept by Chihuahuas in Pacific Conference Championship
Reno’s first appearance in the Pacific Coast League Playoffs since 2014 was brief.
The bats went silent in the first two games of the best-of-five series against El Paso, scoring three total runs, then couldn’t hang on Friday night in Texas, 7-6.
Reno was 7-5 against El Paso, the reigning Pacific Coast League champ, after the first game of the two team’s final series in mid-July, then the Chihuahuas rattled off six-straight victories over the Aces, three coming in the postseason. Reno was outscored 43-21 over that stretch.
It was the first time Reno was swept in the first round of the playoffs in four appearances.
Last week: 0-3
Overall: 80-65
Home: 41-32
Away: 39-33
Who’s hot?
Christian Walker. Big-time players arrive in big-time moments. Scuffling over the last two weeks of the season, the Pacific Coast League MVP single-handedly tried to keep Reno’s season alive on Friday in El Paso. He went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, half coming on a two-run shot in the top of the ninth that pulled the guests within a run. He also went deep in Thursday’s 7-2 loss at Greater Nevada Field, snapping a season-long 13-game homerless streak. He finished with a franchise record 34 long balls.
Who’s not?
The bats. Game one is particularly important in a best-of-five series and the Aces only gave starter Jake Buchanon one run of support in the first game on Wednesday at Greater Nevada Field. Reno finished with eight hits, but stranded a dizzying 10 runners in scoring position and lost 3-1. And also attendance, an announced total of 6,773 combined showed up at Greater Nevada Field for the two playoff games Wednesday and Thursday, an average of 3,387 a game. The worst-attended franchise in the Pacific Coast League this year (Colorado Springs Sky Sox) drew an average of 4,208 fans a game this summer.
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