Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage photos
The American Pastime is doing its best to keep up with a short-attention society. Nowadays, there are pitch clocks, mound-visit ledgers, and for an intentional walk, there’s no longer a need to lob four tosses to the catcher – just point to first base and encourage the batter to hustle it up on the way there.
But some things remain sacred, such as, there’s no tying in baseball.
The Reno Aces-El Paso Chihuahuas’ game Monday at Greater Nevada Field was suspended after 10 innings with the score tied at 5. The reason being it was a Getaway Day, which in the Pacific Coast League comes with a curfew. The Aces needed to get on a plane to play in Albuquerque on Tuesday, and the Chihuahuas have a game slated back home in Texas.
Monday’s contest won’t be decided until July 15 when it will be resumed the next time El Paso is in town. But for now, it feels like a moral victory for Reno, which is off to a rough start this season, winning just three of 11 games.
The Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, El Paso appeared to be on its way to a four-game sweep in the Biggest Little City. But Kevin Cron hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to even the score.
Despite a quirky new rule that has a runner start the curfew inning at second base, neither team scored in the 10th inning.
The Aces will play three games in Albuquerque and four in El Paso before returning to Reno to start a nine-game homestand on Wednesday, April 24.
— Tim Parsons
Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
Today’s Game: The Aces will take on the Albuquerque Isotopes for the second time this season and first time in the great state of New Mexico. Reno went 2-1 at Greater Nevada Field against the ‘Topes in their first series and will look for the same success the second time around. Right-hander Justin Donatella will make his second Triple-A appearance this evening and comes in with an ERA of 3.86. He’ll face former first-round selection Jeff Hoffman. Hoffman is making his 55th career Triple-A start and is 15-21 in the Pacific Coast League since 2016.
Best of the Best: Travis Snider is leading the Triple-A circuit in batting with an average of .515. He is second in Triple-A baseball in OBP (.619) and is 5th in the Pacific Coast League with 17 hits. Yasmany Tomas has also hit his way into some leaderboards. Tomas is 8th in the PCL in batting (.383), tied for first in total hits (18), and tied for 6th in total bases (31).
On this Date in Baseball History: On this date in 1994, after being escorted into Mile High Stadium by a Colorado National Guard contingent, the ‘dinosaur egg,’ which was ‘uncovered’ during the excavation for Coors Field, hatches, revealing an anthropomorphic purple triceratops named Dinger, the Rockies’ new mascot. The inspiration of using of a three-horned dinosaur as the team’s good luck charm is the result of the actual discovery of some dinosaur fossils throughout the construction site of the new ballpark, including a 7-foot-long triceratops skull that weighed half a ton.
lsotopes History: On April 11, 2003 the Albuquerque Isotopes played the first professional baseball game in the Duke City since the Albuquerque Dukes left following the 2000 season. The return of baseball was met by 12,215 enthusiastic fans on Opening Day at beautiful Isotopes Park. The excitement did not end there, as over 575,000 fans passed through the gates in 2003, a season that culminated with the Isotopes winning the Central Division Title and earning a berth in the Pacific Coast League Playoffs. (isotopes.com)
Goat Talk: Former Chicago White Sox outfield prospect Michael Jordan played his final game in the National Basketball Association on this date in 2003. Jordan hit .202 in 127 games with Double-A Birmingham in 1994 before returning to the basketball court. Kids born on this date in 2003, the day of his final game, are now eligible to get their driver’s license.
College Kid: Justin Donatella had a storied college career at the University of California, San Diego. The right-hander was a Consensus All-American and West Region Pitcher of the Year in 2015, Set UCSD’s Division II-era record for strikeouts in a game with 13 in 2014, as well as single-season marks for ERA (1.74), strikeouts (111) and opposing batting average (.186) in 2015. UCSD went 18-8 in his 26 career starts.
— Jackson Gaskins, Aces.com
