Aces top division leaders

The Reno Aces pushed a run across in the eighth inning and made it stand up for a 5-4 win over the Sacramento River Cats Wednesday before a crowd of 5,629 at Aces Park.

Jose Marte (4-1) picked up the win in relief for Reno. Scott Maine pitched the ninth to earn his first save of the season. Michael Benacka (0-1) took the loss in relief for Sacramento.

The Aces improved to 74-64 while the River Cats fell to 85-52.

Reno was ahead, 4-2, going into the seventh inning when Sacramento scored two runs to tie the game. In the eighth, Eric Byrnes and Josh Whitesell hit back-to-back doubles to produce the winning run.

"It was a nice win, especially against these guys who have the best record in the league and are going to the playoffs," Aces manager Brett Butler said. "The guys played well collectively tonight."

Nobody played better than Whitesell, the first baseman who recently returned to the Aces after a stint in the majors with the Diamondbacks. Whitesell dug out three very low throws to first base as well as batting in Byrnes with the winning run. Left fielder Trent Oeltjen - who also recently returned from the Diamondbacks - Center fielder Chris Roberson and right fielder Brandon Watson all made fine running catches to rob the River Cats of base hits.

"When you've got a guy at first base who can pick it like that, it really helps you," Butler said. "And then of course Roberson, Oeltjen and Watson making nice catches, like I said, it was a nice, collective effort."

Reno scored the first two runs in the second inning when Austin Murillo single to drive in Luke Carlin and Ed Rogers, both of whom had also singled. Sacramento got one run back in the third when a hit by Yung-Chin Chen, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases for Chris Carter, who brought Chen home with a sacrifice fly. Reno increased its lead to 4-1 in the fourth when Rogers was safe on a field choice, Murillo doubled to score Rogers and Taylor Harban singled to score Murillo.

The River Cats pushed across a run in the sixth when Tommy Everidge scored from third on a double play, then tied the game in the seventh on a two-RBI double by Brett Wallace, setting the stage for Byrnes and Whitesell in the eighth.

"That's what you need," Butler said. "When we really needed it, the big veterans came up, Byrnes got it going and Whitesell came through with the clutch hit."

Aces starter Daniel Cabrera pitched five innings and struck out four before being relieved by Jason Urquidez in the sixth before Marte came on in the seventh.

"We needed to get Cabrera to 90 pitches tonight," Butler said. "He threw the ball well and has increasingly gotten better. He didn't have his best stuff but he went after it and gave us a solid five innings."

The win gives Reno a 2-1 lead in the series, which concludes tonight with a 7:05 p.m. game. The Aces end the season with a four game series at home against the Fresno Grizzlies beginning on Friday.