Its been over 600 days since Sutter Health Park in Sacramento hosted a professional baseball game that mattered, and back then it was still called Raley Field. The 2021 season started with two weeks on the road for the River Cats that took them from Las Vegas to Oklahoma City. Coming into their first series at home with six games against the Reno Aces who are first in the West Division with a 9-2 record while the River Cats find themselves with a 6-6 record with four of those wins coming against OKC. Fittingly tonight’s starter for the home opener is Tyler Beede. This is his fourth rehab start since his Tommy John surgery back in the Spring of 2020. Beede has been looking really good in his outings, and although he is still on a limited pitch count he has a 3.18 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, with 10 strikeouts and two walks in 5.2 innings.

The Aces come into this series with only two of the Arizona Diamondbacks Top 30 prospects on the roster with Seth Beer (13), and Jon Duplantier (22) who will pitch game two of this series. The Aces also bring in a couple of familiar faces as former River Cats Ryder Jones, and Henry Ramos are on the team and playing in this series.

The River Cats were able to get on the board early as Jason Vosler put them on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo shot to make it 1-0. Beede would then come out after going 2.2 innings throwing 53 pitches. He looked good through the first 45 when the Reno team started to make some contact. I could not tell you the speed because the radar gun was stuck at 82 on the board all night.

The game was a bit ho-hum and as nice as it was to be back at the ballpark, something was missing. The crowd wasn’t bad considering it was a Thursday and there are still some Covid restrictions that are being dealt with but I’m still missing the energy of the game; maybe its just me.

The River Cats got their first home win of the series in Game 3 of the series and they did it with Bryce Johnson’s speed who after stealing third, took home after an errant throw to win the game. Johnson is the guy I think you need to keep an eye on this year. I’ve watched him play a few times in previous seasons during his time in San Jose, and I found him to be a pretty good fielder, and fast. Nothing really stood out to me though, but he has me taking notice this year. A sixth-round pick in 2017 out of Sam Houston State, Johnson is hitting .358/.476/1.013 with two homeruns, 10 RBI, and 7 steals.

The highlight of series was Game 5 when the River Cats broke out 14 runs in beating the Aces by a final score of 14-9. 22 of the games 23 runs were all scored before the bottom of the fifth. It was a seesaw battle until Jason Vossler capped a five run third with a three-run shot, and Drew Robinson added a solo shot in a four run fourth.  

The final game of the series was a day game, and it was pretty hot. Tyler Beede was on the mound and took the loss. He only lasted two innings and threw 53 pitches, giving up one and striking out three. It was probably his worst outing so far, but I wouldn’t call it bad in any way. He was getting squeezed by the home plate umpire on plenty of pitches, and his fastball was sitting around 95-96 on the day. Tyler’s overall consistency has been great in my opinion, and will be a huge asset to the Giants once he returns to the rotation.

Not going to lie, I don’t remember much of the rest of the game except for the Aces pulling Henry Ramos in a double switch after he half assed a ball that allowed the River Cats to score two. The only reason I even remember this was that those around me were joking about how poorly Ramos would misplay the ball during his tenure with the River Cats, and here we are. Ramos’ misstep aside the River Cats still lost and are now 8-10 going into their next six game series with Las Vegas which starts tonight.

The River Cats will be playing six against Las Vegas with Jesus Luzardo taking the mound for the Aviators, and the Cats counter with Shun Yamguchi (0-2, 5.65). The Cats went 2-4 against Las Vegas to open the season, but they are both 8-10 coming into the series.

Jason Vossler was also called up after the last game, and by doing so was unable to enjoy a day off on Wednesday like the rest of the River Cats did since he had to be in Phoenix for a game against the Diamondbacks. Apparently, Jason didn’t seem to mind as he hit his first Major League homerun. I think he’d skip a day off for that any time; congrats Jason!

I have to say that I’m really disappointed with the new configuration of Triple-A West and its scheduling. Six-game series, and then a day off followed by another six-game series. I don’t think that this would necessarily be that bad, but there are only 10 teams in the League, and the River Cats only play eight of them. Sugarland and Albuquerque don’t play Sacramento this season.

On a side note, I’m thinking about doing a review on ballpark food. It will probably focus around the food in Sacramento and Stockton as that is where I intend to attend most of my games, but I hope to give you a little insight on what they have to offer. I need a cool hashtag though. Well, that’s all for this installment, see ya at the ballpark!