PAPILLION, Neb. – The River Cats must feel as if they have the Omaha Storm Chasers right where they want them despite losing 3-2 Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Pacific Coast League championship series.

After all, Sacramento lost the first two games of its first-round series against Reno before coming back with three straight wins to advance.

Lorenzo Cain's bloop single in the seventh inning was the difference in Omaha's victory at Werner Park. The soft liner to right field off reliever Vinnie Chulk fell between second baseman Wes Timmons and right fielder Grant Green. The ball caromed off Green's glove and allowed David Lough enough time to score from first base.

"I'm going, and he's coming," Timmons said. "He thought he had a bead on it and called it, but it just didn't happen. I'm not so sure that if it happened tomorrow, we go the same route and he makes the play. You can't put any blame on anybody there. It just happened to come at a tough spot."

Every close play was magnified in a game pitting two aces. Omaha right-hander Luis Mendoza posted a league-best 2.18 ERA this season, while River Cats right-hander Graham Godfrey topped all PCL pitchers with 14 victories even after his monthlong big-league stint with the A's in June.

Mendoza set the tone early for the Storm Chasers, retiring 11 of the first 12 Sacramento batters and handcuffing a lineup that had scored a combined 26 runs in three playoff wins over Reno.

"He made pitches when he needed to," said River Cats manager Darren Bush. "We expanded the zone a little bit. He had a good breaking ball, worked it down and got us to expand. He threw the ball well."

Mendoza, the PCL's Pitcher of the Year, went seven innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits while striking out eight to pick up his second postseason victory.

Omaha's starter gave way to perhaps the top reliever in Kansas City's farm system, Kelvin Herrera, who reached triple digits on the radar gun while retiring the River Cats in order the final two innings.

"Good pitching beats good hitting, and tonight they had great pitching," Timmons said. "It's not coincidental that Mendoza's the PCL Pitcher of the Year. When you can throw four good pitches around the plate at any time, you're going to be successful.

"And then they bring their organizational pitcher of the year out of the bullpen, so we saw their No. 1 and No. 1 1/2 out of the pen. They did their job and held us in check."

The River Cats still managed to hang around and put themselves in position to win.

Chris Carter drove a Mendoza offering down the left-field line for a one-out double in the sixth to score Jermaine Mitchell and give the River Cats a 2-1 lead. It was Carter's seventh hit and seventh RBI in 19 postseason at-bats.

Carter advanced to third on a Josh Donaldson groundout, but was stranded when Adrian Cardenas flied out to center to end the inning.

Although Godfrey scuffled in the early going, he improved on his Game 1 start at Reno. The right-hander was lifted after giving up two earned runs on seven hits in six innings.

Sacramento sends right-hander Tyson Ross (3-2, 7.61 ERA) to the mound for Game 2 tonight. The Storm Chasers will counter with former Oakland right-hander Vin Mazzaro (7-2, 2.49).

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