Reno opens second half at home against Oklahoma City, offense surges

Reno opened the second half at Greater Nevada Field with a chance to make its “fresh start” language real against one of the Pacific Coast League’s tougher measuring sticks. The Aces had 75 home games left in a schedule built around six-game weekly series and Monday off-days, and the first test came against Oklahoma City with the offense finally showing signs of life.

That mattered because the first-half close left Reno with evidence it could damage pitchers in bunches. Tyler Locklear drove in a team-best four runs in the prior stretch, Ryan Waldschmidt finished his first week back in his second stint batting .300 with five runs scored, one double, two home runs, two RBI and three walks, and A.J. Vukovich returned from the injured list to go 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored and two RBI. The lineup needed that kind of production to turn a promising finish into something more durable at home.

Reno also got a franchise milestone from the mound. Right-hander Jeff Brigham Henry became the club’s all-time strikeout leader with 308, moving past Charles Brewer’s 307, a mark that had stood since Brewer’s 2012-14 run in Reno. For a team trying to reset after a uneven first half, the record was a reminder that the Aces still had individual performers capable of delivering more than just one good series at a time.

Oklahoma City had already served as a gauge once this season. The clubs met from May 19-24 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, where the Comets opened with a 6-3 win on May 19, followed with a 6-4 victory on May 20 and blanked Reno 8-0 on May 21 before the Aces answered with a 2-1 win on May 23. That earlier set also put Reno in second place in the second-half standings entering the series, while Oklahoma City leaned on a lineup headlined by Ryan Ward and Nick Senzel.

Now the matchup shifted to Reno, where the Aces had the chance to prove that the offense’s recent burst was not just a short-lived jolt. In Triple-A, where players move constantly between levels, the second half can feel like a new season entirely. For Reno, the next six games at home were set to show whether the club’s reset was more than talk.