Homers Highlight Night for Cats but Aviators Snatch Win

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – For the fourth time this season the Sacramento River Cats launched a trio of home runs, but the power surge was not enough to overcome Las Vegas as the Aviators secured an 8-5 victory in game two.

Both sides started their scoring in the first, with the Aviators (28-31) taking the lead just three batters into the contest. Leadoff hitter Max Schuemann earned a free pass to begin the game, moved to second on a passed ball, and scored right away on an RBI single from Jordan Diaz. However, most of the damage came in the next at-bat as Cody Thomas drove a ball to left-center field that carried over the wall to quickly put Las Vegas ahead 3-0.

During their swings in the first the River Cats (26-33) responded, as Bryce Johnson hammered the first pitch he saw into deep center field for a double. He advanced 90 feet courtesy his fourth steal of the year, and then crossed the plate soon after when Tyler Fitzgerald sent a single through the middle.

While Sacramento threatened during the third, it was the fourth inning in which they briefly stole back the momentum. Jumpstarting the inning was Jacob Nottingham, as he crushed his second homer in a River Cats uniform (sixth total) deep over the wall left field that returned it to a one-run game.

That was, until a two-out walk to Johnson kept the inning alive for Luis Matos, who made the Aviators pay with a liner that just cleared the wall in left and put Sacramento on top, 4-3. This was the second time that both Nottingham and Matos homered in the same game, as both hit their first Sacramento dingers on June 1 at Tacoma.

Unfortunately, the lead did not last long, as Las Vegas loaded the bases against Daniel Tillo (1-6) with a pair of singles and a walk. Las Vegas scored two of the three runners when they pushed across a run on a sacrifice fly, then took advantage of a wild pitch to retake the lead, 5-4.

Insurance came in the sixth for the Aviators, pouring in three more runs on one swing as Tyler Soderstrom lifted a ball to left center on the first pitch that found its way over the fence to increase the advantage to 8-4.

From that point on the River Cats totaled just two hits, both of which came from the bat of Michael Gigliotti. First it was a leadoff double in the sixth before being left stranded, but later Gigliotti drove himself in when he joined the homer party in the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot to right center for his third of the year.

In the ninth the Aviators turned to Rico Garcia, and the Las Vegas righty faced just the minimum to preserve the 8-5 victory. That was the fourth save of the campaign for Garcia, which also helped secure the win for Joe Weiland (4-4) as he finished off the fourth inning for starter Adrian Martinez.

The River Cats finished just one hit shy of the Aviators (10-9), with Matos, Fitzgerald and Gigliotti each recording multiple-hit efforts with at least one run driven in. Johnson scored twice while going 1-for-4 with his double, and Matos was the only to drive in multiple runs with a two-RBI night.

Sacramento will look to snatch their first win in the series when these two teams line up on the diamond again on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. at Sutter Health Park.