Taijeron, Monell power 51s to 8-7 victory at Reno

Travis Taijeron and Johnny Monell each had a home run among his three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice for the 51s, who scored all of their runs with two outs and held on for an 8-7 win over the Reno Aces in a Pacific Coast League game Thursday night in Reno.

Brandon Allen, Kyle Johnson, Dilson Herrera, Wilfredo Tovar and starting pitcher Rafael Montero each had two hits for Las Vegas (7-8), which scored three runs in the first inning and never trailed.

Montero (1-0), who had an RBI single in the third, gave up four runs on six hits and no walks and struck out four in five innings.

Darrell Ceciliani had two sacrifice flies for the 51s, who led 4-1 after three innings and 8-4 after seven.

Nick Evans’ RBI double was part of Reno’s three-run eighth that pulled the Aces within 8-7.

In the bottom of the ninth, Blake Lalli hit a one-out double, and pinch hitter Matt Pagnozzi followed with a single to put runners at the corners.

But reliever Chase Bradford got Mike Freeman to ground into a fielder’s choice in which pinch runner Danny Worth was retired at the plate, then struck out Jamie Romak to end the game.

Freeman hit a first-inning homer, and Romak and Evans had two hits each for Reno, which was outhit 16-11.

Evans and Peter O’Brien drove in two runs each for the Aces.