Yu-Min Lin closed his season by giving the Reno Aces seven innings of control. He filled the strike zone without issuing a walk, carried a perfect game into the fifth and left Sacramento with little more than a narrow opening to chase.
Reno’s offense needed only one inning to give him enough. Adrian Del Castillo broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer, Kristian Robinson added an RBI double, and the Aces held off the River Cats 3-2 Wednesday night at Sutter Health Park.
Lin (9-9) allowed one earned run and struck out six in his final start of the season. Sacramento did not send a batter beyond first base during his first four innings because it did not put one there at all.
The left-hander retired the first 12 River Cats he faced, getting six outs on the ground and striking out two. By then, Reno had repeatedly put runners aboard against Trystan Vrieling but had stranded five of them, including three in the second.
Del Castillo changed that in the fifth.
Santiago Espinal opened the inning with his second walk, and after Tommy Troy struck out, Del Castillo drove Vrieling’s 1-0 pitch high down the left-field line. Bo Davidson chased it toward the corner, but the ball kept carrying and slipped just inside the foul pole for Del Castillo’s sixth home run with Reno.
The swing came after Del Castillo had struck out in each of his first two plate appearances. It also accounted for two of the Aces’ three runs and supplied the decisive separation in a game that tightened considerably before the final out.
Reno was not finished. Vrieling retired Gavin Conticello before Demetrio Crisantes ripped a two-out double down the third-base line and into the left-field corner. Braxton Roxby replaced Vrieling, but Robinson greeted him by driving a ball off the wall in left. Crisantes scored, and Robinson slid into second with his 17th double and a 3-0 Aces lead.
All three Reno runs came in that inning. Vrieling was charged with each of them over 4 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking six.
Sacramento finally reached Lin in the bottom half. Parks Harber sent a sharp fly ball to right for a leadoff triple, ending Lin’s perfect start, and scored on Charlie Szykowny’s groundout. Lin recovered by handling Eddys Leonard’s soft grounder himself and striking out Zach Morgan.
The River Cats found one more opening against him in the sixth when Zane Zielinski doubled with one out. Lin stranded him by striking out Darren Baker and Victor Bericoto, then retired the side in order in the seventh to finish his night.
Juan Burgos protected the two-run lead in the eighth despite walking Morgan and Zielinski. He struck out Baker to strand both runners and earn his sixth hold.
The ninth was less tidy. Bericoto led off against Kade Strowd with a drive that reached the wall in left-center for a double. Strowd retired Davidson, but Harber lined a single into center to score Bericoto, trim the lead to 3-2 and bring the tying run aboard.
Strowd answered with his best work of the inning. He struck out Szykowny, then did the same to Leonard, shutting down the rally and securing his fourth save.
The finish turned tense, but it did not undo what Lin built. In seven innings without a walk, he made Reno’s concentrated burst in the fifth stand up—and walked away from his last start with a win.