The Sacramento River Cats (50-27) defeated the visiting Reno Aces (45-32) 8-3 on Saturday night at Raley Field to take the first game of the four-game series.

RHP Rich Harden (0-0, 3.52) returned to Sacramento for his second rehab start as he works his way back to the Oakland A’s rotation after suffering a strained lateral muscle below his right arm during spring training. Working with a 75-pitch, five-inning limit, Harden lasted 4 2/3 innings and yielded three earned runs on three hits, with six strikeouts and two walks. Despite struggling to locate his fastball, Harden’s notoriously filthy change-up was effective throughout his start. The righty is clearly building arm strength as his fastball was clocked at 88-91 mph throughout the outing.

Reno’s RHP Gaby Hernandez (2-1, 5.29) got the start and took the loss after giving up five earned runs over five innings with three strikeouts and six walks. The walks were the difference as Hernandez struggled to get ahead of the River Cats hitters.

3B Kevin Kouzmanoff, after hitting a grand slam on Friday night at Tucson, was the first to make Hernandez pay after the righty issued consecutive walks to River Cats 2B Wes Timmons and SS Eric Sogard in the bottom of the third. Kouzmanoff lined a three-run shot off the clubhouse wall in left field with two outs that gave Sacramento a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, Aces 3B Cody Ransom put Reno on the board with a towering solo home run to left field. Ransom extended his Pacific Coast League lead in RBIs to 70 and is tied for second in home runs (20) behind teammate Wily Mo Pena (21).

In the top half of the fifth, Reno took advantage of Harden’s control issues after the righty gave up single to C Konrad Schmidt before walking 2B Mark Hallberg and CF Collin Cowgill to load the bases with two outs. Harden was then lifted for LHP Lenny DiNardo (2-4, 8.59) who immediately gave up a two-run double to right field by Reno LF Brandon Allen that allowed Schmidt and Hallberg to score and tie the game 3-3. Cowgill was caught trying to get greedy when Timmons gunned him down at home plate on a relay from RF Michael Taylor to end the inning.

The River Cats relentless offense wasted little time in regaining the lead as they added two runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend their lead to 5-3. With one on and two outs, Sacramento CF Jai Miller laced a double down the left field line that allowed Kouzmanoff to advance to third after Hernandez hit him with a pitch in the preceding at bat. DH Andy LaRoche subsequently bombed a double into the left-center field gap that drove in Kouzmanoff and Miller.

Sacramento then sailed to an easy victory after DiNardo provided three innings of relief that included two strikeouts, two walks and five hits. The two runs in the fifth were charged to Harden.

Sacramento built on their lead in the bottom of the seventh when Taylor added a solo home run that barely cleared the wall in left field. In the bottom half of the eighth, the River Cats added two more runs when Kouzmanoff knocked in his fourth and fifth RBIs of the evening on a two-out single to center field that drove in LF Adrian Cardenas and Sogard to put Sacramento ahead 8-3.

RHP Neil Wagner (0-0, 0.00), who relieved DiNardo in the top of the eighth with two outs, notched his first save of the season for Sacramento after a recent promotion from Midland. Wagner allowed one hit in 1 1/3 innings of work that included three strikeouts in the top of the ninth that secured the victory for the River Cats.

Notes:
*Harden is expected to make at least one more rehab start at Sacramento before joining Oakland at some point in early July.
*Attendance: 8,111
*Sacramento extended their lead in the Southern division to nine games with Las Vegas’ loss to Tacoma.
*The River Cats continue the four game series with Reno today at Raley Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. with RHP Travis Banwart (4-4, 4.66) taking on Reno RHP Barry Enright (6-2, 4.13)

Photography by Steven Chea