The Reno Aces came soaring out of the All-Star break and swept its four-game series at El Paso to give the team a winning streak of six games.
Reno took the first matchup 8-2 on Thursday before winning twice on Saturday, 7-3 and 4-1, after Friday’s game was rained out. They capped off the sweep on Sunday with a 4-1 win before returning home for a seven game home stand.
The Pacific Coast League announced Monday that Reno Aces infielder Christian Walker was named the Player of the Week for the period of July 9-15.
Coming off the Triple-A All-Star break, Walker delivered clutch hits to help the Aces sweep a four-game series of first-place El Paso. He homered in each of the first three games of the set, driving in eight runs. The reigning PCL MVP hit .333 (5-for-15), totaled 14 bases, scored four runs and posted a 1.308 OPS. In the opener of the series on July 12, Walker hit a two-run homer, part of a two-hit day, in Reno’s 8-2 victory. Two days later, Walker had game-winning home runs in both ends of a doubleheader. In the first game, he gave Reno a first inning lead they would never relinquish with a two-run homer; Walker finished the contest with two hits and three RBIs. The Pennsylvania native followed by hitting a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning of game two, lifting the Aces to the win.
Walker, in his second year in the Arizona organization, has bounced between Reno and the Major Leagues all season. In 52 games with the Aces, the 27-year-old has picked up where left off last season, hitting .287 (58-for-202) with 13 homers and 44 RBIs, while posting a .894 OPS. He has been recalled to Arizona on four separate occasions this year, playing in a combined 20 games with the Diamondbacks. Walker was the PCL’s MVP a season ago after posting Minor League Baseball’s only season of at least 30 homers, 100 RBI and 100 runs (32 HR, 114 RBIs, 104 runs). The seventh-year professional spent the first five years of his career in the Baltimore Orioles organization. This is his eighth career Player of the Week award, having most recently been honored by the PCL for the period of April 6-16, 2017 after hitting four home runs with 16 RBIs.
The Aces returned home winners of eight of its last nine games and began a four-game series with Tacoma. They will take on Las Vegas this weekend before hitting the road again next week. The wins pulled the Aces within two games of .500 entering Monday at 46-48. They sit in third place in the PCL Pacific Northern Division and are eight and a half games behind first place Fresno.
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