Morris masterful as Aviators take Game 1 over Rainiers

One more win on either of the next two nights will send the Las Vegas Aviators to the Triple-A Championship.

Game 1 of the Pacific Coast League Championship Series turned in the 19th meeting of the year between Las Vegas and Tacoma as the former took a, 7-1, victory home Tuesday, Sept. 23. It goes down as the team’s first playoff win since 2019.

“It’s a playoff game,” pitcher Kade Morris said. “They mean a lot so it’s understanding [that you’re trying] to win each pitch. Don’t get too big, don’t get too small, just see what’s in front of you.”

Morris took the mound for the opening game of the PCL championship series at 23 years old, understanding that a short leash would be in effect if he were not executing pitches.

“Leashes, especially short ones, only count if you’re not performing,” manager Fran Riordan said. “He performed at an elite level for seven innings. You could say he made one mistake all night on the [Samad] Taylor home run but other than that, he kept it on the ground.”

Morris was met on the mound by opposing starter Jhonathan Diaz as both pitchers locked into a pitcher’s duel. In the third inning, both worked around a leadoff double to get out of the frame unscathed.

Battling the leadoff man was something that Morris dealt with a good chunk of his first playoff start.

“Just taking my extra breath today,” he said. “In a playoff game, it might mean a little more so the emotions are high. So just making sure I’m getting my extra breath and slowing the game down. Those are the things I’m good at, this is the same game I’ve played since I was a little kid.”

In four of his seven innings of work, Morris allowed the leadoff man to reach. He worked around it in the second, third and fifth innings but surrendered that solo home run to the aforementioned Taylor.

Even with the mishap, Morris went seven full innings with one run allowed on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks. It’s the third time he’s gone seven innings this year and the first since June 25th.

While posting just two strikeouts in the win, Morris relied heavily on his defense with two highlight reel plays to show for it. Center fielder Denzel Clarke skied high for a catch against the wall in center field to close the first inning. Shortstop Drew Swift added a line drive snag to end the visitor’s seventh inning as part of the strong defensive outing.

“I’ve trusted my guys all year,” Morris said. “I see Swifty back there, I see some guys back there that I trust. Knowing that I’m not going to be perfect but knowing that I’ve got seven dogs back there ready to get anything that’s out there.”

Las Vegas’ three-run seventh inning put some more distance between the two teams as the home team’s lead grew to four runs.

After closing the top of the seventh inning with a line drive catch, Swift opened the home half with a leadoff walk. He’d be brought around on an RBI single by catcher Daniel Susac with one out recorded.

Susac went 3-for-4 with two singles, a double, an RBI and a run scored. According to Riordan, his starting catcher hadn’t seen live pitching in about three weeks as he dealt with an IL stint.

“We hadn’t done anything off of Diaz,” Riordan said. “Susac was the only one that had squared him up a couple of times.”

Diaz dealt out pitches ranging from 47 miles an hour to the high 80s while having entered the game with six innings of one-run ball under his belt the last time out against the Aviators.

Outfielder Ryan Lasko added an RBI triple in the seventh inning to score Susac before being driven in by in-game defensive replacement Euribiel Angeles. Lasko’s biggest swing of the night came in the fifth inning on a two-run home run that scored Susac and himself to give his team a 2-0 lead.

“It’s funny because the home run at-bat I was just trying to see something,” Lasko said. “Just put it in play somehow, I was trying to just find a hole somewhere. In the next at-bat, I was looking for a heater and I got it.”

That home run swing came on a 2-2 count from Lasko, who was playing in his 14th Triple-A game, while facing the aforementioned Diaz.

“Most of his stuff is down in the zone,” Lasko said. “We tried to not beat ourselves and hit ourselves into outs. We tried to work it into our approach and get the ball up and stay toward the big part of the field.”

With a chance to go to the Triple-A Championship on Saturday, Las Vegas will send out veteran Aaron Brooks tomorrow night for Game 2 against Tacoma, who will trot out right-hander Logan Evans.

First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. from Las Vegas Ballpark.

Riordan is expecting to have a full arsenal ready to go after having to only use two arms in the Game 1 win in Morris and reliever Gustavo Rodriguez.

“That’s huge,” he said. “We have a healthy bullpen, we have a lot of guys that can fill a lot of different spots in [the Rainiers lineup] – they have a lot of left-hand hitters, a switch hitter. They’re a very talented offense and we just have to do our best to mix-and-match tomorrow.

“Brooks has to have a good gameplan and execute it and go as long as he can. Then we’ll do our best to mix-and-match afterwards with some great arms we have down there in the bullpen.”