RENO – Randy Messenger had a brutal homecoming, Chris Shelton bailed him out with some ninth inning heroics.

But the Tacoma Rainiers went on and lost to Reno in 11 innings on Monday night, 8-7.

Messenger, who grew up in neighboring Sparks, was summoned in the bottom of the eighth inning to protect a 4-3 lead.

But the Tacoma closer – who entered the game with a 2.32 ERA – allowed four runs to score with two outs in the inning.

Trent Oeltjen singled home the tying run, and Rust Ryal tripled home a pair to make it 6-4.

Ryal scored on John Hester’s pinch-hit single and the Rainiers went to the ninth inning trailing by three runs.

But the Rainiers made a dramatic comeback in the ninth against Aces reliever Jason Urquidez.

With two outs, Jeff Clement doubled to deep right field, driving in Prentice Redman and bringing the tying run to the plate.

Chris Shelton worked himself to a 2-2 count, then got a hanging breaking ball. Shelton crushed the pitch, driving it deep over the fence in left-center field for the game-tying home run.

It was Shelton’s 11th home run of the season, and he leads the Rainiers with 58 runs batted in.

Messenger and Justin Thomas combined to keep Reno off the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Rainiers went to extra innings for just the second time this season – and the first time since April 11.

Each team advanced a runner to second base in the 10th but did not score, and the Rainiers did not score in the top of the 11th.

When Chris Roberson lined an opposite-field triple to open up the 11th, it set the stage for the winning run.

Tacoma decided to intentionally walk Ruben Gotay and Abraham Nunez to load the bases and create a force at home plate.

That’s when Orlando Mercado Jr., whose father played for the Seattle Mariners in the early 1980s, rendered the strategy meaningless.

Mercado lifted a sacrifice fly to medium-deep center field, and Roberson trotted home with the winning run.

Tacoma (36-41) lost to Reno for the eighth time in a row. Overall, the Rainiers have lost 10 of their past 12 games, and fell to 9-18 in the month of June.

Reno (40-38) moved to two games over .500 for the first time in its brief franchise history.

Short hops

Orlando Mercado Jr. is the son of former major league catcher Orlando Mercado, who played 105 games with the Mariners between 1982 and 1984. The senior Mercado hit .197 with two homers and 16 RBI in 66 games with the 1983 team. His big league career ended in 1990 with Montreal. … Reno hit three triples in the game and leads the PCL with 35. … Michael Saunders left the game in the eighth inning when his right hamstring tightened up while running out a double.

On tap

The series in Reno concludes with a 1:05 p.m. game today. Tacoma’s starting pitcher is to be announced, while Reno will start Yusmeiro Petit (0-1, 7.11 ERA).

Mike Curto is the radio broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers.