WEST SACRAMENTO - Ryan Roberts halted a brief slump with three hits, and Matt Torra was effective in his Aces debut, but Reno's offense couldn't breakthrough Saturday night, as the Sacramento River Cats topped the Aces, 2-0, at Raley Field.
Three Sacramento pitchers, headed by a seven-inning effort for starter Clayton Mortensen (2-0), limited Reno to zero runs and seven hits on Saturday. Two singles, a sacrifice bunt and a two-run base hit to left-center by Eric Sogard in the bottom of the second inning were enough offense for the River Cats, who have now won the first two games of the four-game set.
Torra (0-1), who took the spot vacated by Kris Benson's promotion to Arizona, allowed just two runs on eight hits over six innings of work, but was pinned with the loss. Jason Urquidez continued his torrid start out of the bullpen with a spotless inning of work, and Esmerling Vasquez, today optioned down from Arizona, worked a scoreless eighth inning for Reno.
At the dish, Roberts finished with a single and two doubles to lead the Aces offense. Doug Deeds added two hits in the losing cause.
The Aces and River Cats hit the third leg of this four-game set at Raley Field at 1:05 p.m. today. Reno turns to RHP Kevin Mulvey (0-0, 2.89 ERA), while Sacramento is set to counter with RHP Vin Mazzaro (1-0, 0.00 ERA).