Reno Aces blank Tacoma 7-0 behind inside-the-park homer

Tim Tawa’s third-inning blast off the center-field wall turned into an inside-the-park home run and sent Reno to a 7-0 victory over Tacoma on June 30 at Cheney Stadium. The shutout was Reno’s fourth of the season and its first against the Rainiers since July 10, 2025. The Aces had not blanked the Rainiers in Tacoma since Aug. 5, 2015.

Mitch Bratt pitched four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. He did not stay on long enough to qualify for the win. Jonatan Bernal then took over and earned his first Triple-A victory with two more shutout innings, and Landon Sims struck out three over two scoreless frames. Gerardo Carillo finished off the ninth with a hit allowed.

In the third, Tawa’s drive to center hit the wall and caromed past the center fielder, letting him circle the bases while two runners scored ahead of him. It was the 15th inside-the-park homer in Aces history and only the second by Reno this season, joining Andrew Velazquez’s earlier one.

Reno kept pouring it on in the fourth. Jose Fernandez doubled and scored, Christian Cerda followed with an RBI single, Kristian Robinson drove a two-run homer to center, and Tawa added a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

Seven of Reno’s nine starters collected hits, and Ryan Waldschmidt, Tawa, Tyler Locklear and Robinson posted multi-hit nights with at least one run scored. Waldschmidt, Tawa and Robinson each had an extra-base hit; Locklear did not. Tacoma, shut out for the fourth time this season, never mounted a threat, and its best chance came in the seventh before Sims escaped. The Rainiers dropped to 35-47 overall and 2-5 in their current run.