RENO " The Aces' 16-5 win Saturday over the Portland Beavers was a game of firsts: First series win, most runs scored, most hits, Billy Buckner's first home start and the first impromptu home run derby.
After Reno built an early 12-3 lead, the Beavers preserved their remaining pitching staff for today's game, which starts at 1:05 p.m., and instead sent out two position players to take the mound. Infielder Craig Stansberry took the mound in the seventh inning where he had the task of throwing to power-hitting Josh Whitesell with two runners on. Stansberry's pitches were so slow that they didn't register on the radar gun, which doesn't display anything slower than 60 mph, much of the time.
Whitesell watched two pitches go by, without removing the bat from his shoulder. Then on the third pitch, he sent some of the 5,413 fans in attendance a present to the grass berm in right field. The blast put an exclamation point on the day for Reno at Aces Ballpark, where it took its first series win in club history by opening the series with three straight wins.
"I wanted to take a strike and just kind of get a feel for him because that was my first at bat against a position player since 2006," said Whitesell, who went 2-for-5 with four RBIs. "It had been a while and he definitely wasn't putting much on it ... It's just trying to not make a fool out of yourself. With a position player out there you don't want to swing too hard and pop one straight up so I just tried to see it and put a good swing on it and get a hit."
Whitesell saved the embarrassment that several of his teammates had against Stansberry and Brett Dowdy, the other position player to take the mound. But other than a few moments the Aces were in control from the onset.
They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and extended it to 10-0 in the second as they hit around the order with all but two players scoring. Within an hour of the first pitch the Aces had already eclipsed their runs record, which was 11 in their home opener.
Beavers pitcher Matt Buschmann (1-3) took the loss as the Aces strung together six hits in the second inning. Even Aces starting pitcher Billy Buckner got in the hitting, going 2-for-3 with an RBI single in the first inning and two runs scored.
"The first time up to bat I had a runner on third so I knew he was going to try to throw me a first-pitch strike," Buckner said. "I figured that was my best opportunity to put a ball in play. I was just trying to hit a fly ball there and I hit it through the hole. And the second one? I'm not sure, I got kind of lucky out there I guess."
The Aces would need the extra runs early on. Buckner cruised through the first four innings, striking out six, but in the fifth a controversial call seemed to undo his rhythm. Kevin Howard led off the inning by beating out a bang-bang play at first that Buckner and the crowd thought was an out. Then Buckner, who was optioned to Reno on April 14 by the Arizona Diamondbacks, walked Sean Kazmar; Jon Ellis reached on a fielder's choice error and the next three batters strung together singles to cut the lead 12-5.
Buckner was pulled in favor of Josh Ellis (3-1), who picked up the win after closing out the inning.
"I felt real good (early on)," said Buckner, who gave up five runs on six hits. "I had command of all three pitches, I felt like I was getting down in the zone getting ahead of hitters ... I don't feel like I changed anything, but baseball's a crazy game. After an error, you've got to follow up with a good ground ball and get out of it, but I didn't do that today."
The Aces had 15 hits in the game, which surpassed their previous record of 11 set during Friday's extra-innings, 5-4 win over Portland. They took the first game of the series 6-1 and if they win today they will take their first series sweep in club history.
"We feel like we're playing better ball now, we're just trying to keep that rolling," Whitesell said. "Hopefully more will be coming."