Aces make quick work of Isotopes
Shipley pitches Reno to victory
Someone forgot to tell Braden Shipley that Friday was not Star Wars Night at Isotopes Park.
Reno’s right-hander was a night early for that particular promotion.
Shipley (6-3) used a combination of well-located pitches and perhaps a Jedi mind trick or two to completely baffle the Isotopes for eight innings of a 5-1 Aces win in front of an announced 6,399 fans. He allowed just one run on five hits in eight remarkably efficient innings, striking out three and walking none.
The game lasted just 2 hours, 20 minutes — not even long enough for a decent sequel.
Shipley’s outing was impressive considering he got knocked around by the Isotopes earlier this season in Albuquerque. Friday he was in command.
“Last time he pitched off his fastball,” ’Topes manager Glenallen Hill said of Shipley, “tonight he worked off his offspeed stuff. He was very, very comfortable throwing offspeed early in counts. Good adjustment by him.”
Shipley was particularly masterful through the first six innings, allowing just one base runner and needing just 64 pitches to record 18 outs. The one Isotopes batter to reach in that span was Jordan Patterson, who tripled and finished the night 2-for-3.
Patterson tipped his cap to Shipley, but it was only a brief tip.
“He filled up the zone,” Patterson said, “but we put some good swings on pitches and balls just didn’t fall, too. That’s how it works sometimes.”
Isotopes starter Harrison Musgrave (3-3) was on the other side of some baseball fortune.
The Isotopes failed to make a few plays behind him that ultimately proved costly, including a foul pop up that was not handled and a fly ball to right that ended up hopping over the fence for a ground-rule double.
The latter was followed immediately by Kyle Jensen’s two-run double to left that gave Reno a 4-0 lead in the third inning and provided all the run support Shipley would need.
“(Musgrave) was nibbling and he was up in the zone,” Hill said. “Then again, if we make a couple of regular plays it’s a different outing and a different kind of drama.”
Several high fly balls appeared to give players trouble in the twilight, but Patterson said his miss of Socrates Brito’s eventual ground-rule double was not one of them.
“I should have caught it,” Patterson said. “No excuses there.”
The Isotopes finally seemed to awaken in the seventh, when Mike Tauchman doubled in front of singles by Ben Paulsen and Patterson. But Shipley escaped with just one run allowed and worked a 1-23 eighth before leaving. Steve Hathaway retired the Isotopes in order in the ninth to conclude the speedy game.
“Just painful,” Hill said. “Quick doesn’t make it feel any better.”
Brito finished 4-for-5 for the Aces, while Carlos Rivero went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Patterson was the only Isotope with more than one hit.