RENO – The River Cats won the Pacific Coast League Pacific Southern Division so easily that it has been awhile since they played a game with their backs against – or remotely close to – a wall.

If they've forgotten what it's like, they didn't sound worried about it Wednesday night after losing to the Reno Aces 7-4 in Game 1 of their first-round PCL playoff series.

"It's a race to three, not a race to one," River Cats manager Darren Bush said of the best-of-five series.

After falling behind 5-1, Sacramento clawed back to within a run on Chris Carter's solo homer in the seventh inning.

But Reno center fielder Ryan Langerhans dealt a crushing blow with a long two-run home run in the eighth off reliever Jordan Norberto, and Sacramento went down quietly in the ninth.

The Aces played long ball to great effect, scoring their first three runs on two homers by second baseman – and No. 8 hitter – Angel Berroa.

With a man on in the second inning, Berroa crushed the first pitch he saw from River Cats starter Graham Godfrey over the 410-foot marker in left-center field. In the fourth, his solo homer, a lazy fly ball to right field, just cleared the wall and the outstretched glove of a leaping Jai Miller.

"The first home run I hung a slider, and he put a good swing on it. He's a good hitter," said Godfrey, who allowed five earned runs in a Triple-A start for the first time this year. "And the second at-bat, I was falling behind and didn't want to walk him, put a pretty good fastball away, and he was able to make good contact on it.

"Kind of tough how it all ended up, but he's on our radar now," Godfrey said.

Reno starter Zach Kroenke, who entered the game with a 7.47 ERA in six career outings against Sacramento, gave up three runs – two earned – in 5 1/3 innings to earn the win. He improved to 14-1 all-time at Aces Ballpark.

Kroenke departed with a 5-2 lead in the sixth, walking off the field to a standing ovation from many in the announced crowd of 5,738, vocal in their celebration of the franchise's first-ever playoff game.

The River Cats scored twice in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Landon Powell and an RBI double by designated hitter Grant Green, making his Triple-A debut after being called up from Double-A Midland.

But after Carter's blast in the seventh, the comeback ended.

"Long ball got us tonight," Bush said. "But we battled the whole way."

A loss tonight would send Sacramento back to Raley Field down 2-0. It wouldn't be an insurmountable deficit, but it wouldn't be ideal for a team that had a league-best 47-25 road record during the regular season.

Right-hander Tyson Ross (3-2, 7.61 ERA) goes for Sacramento against the Aces' Barry Enright (9-5, 5.21) at 6:35 p.m.

"I don't think there's a lot of pressure right now," Godfrey said. "We're still having fun. Unfortunately, this game took a turn early on, but that's baseball.

"We're looking forward to hopefully splitting the series, get back to Sac and doing what we know how to do best."

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