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51s bungle PCL playoff bid

It's over.

The 51s, seeking their third consecutive postseason berth, will be on the outside looking after losing to Tacoma 6-3 on Sunday night before a crowd of 3,923 at Cashman Field.

The El Paso Chihuahuas clinched the Pacific Coast League's Pacific Southern Division with a 10th-inning rally at Reno. They won 7-4 after the Aces had tied the game at 4-all in the bottom of the ninth.

El Paso (78-65) leads Las Vegas (77-66) by one game going into today's regular-season finale. Even if the 51s beat the Rainiers (12:05 p.m.) and El Paso loses at Reno, the Chihuahuas advance by virtue of the first tiebreaker, having won the season series with Las Vegas, 10-6. El Paso will play Fresno starting Wednesday in the best-of-5 Conference Championship Series.

"It's a tough way to go out," 51s manager Wally Backman said. "We just couldn't get the key hit and we had a couple of errors that gave them a couple of runs and it's hard to win when those things happen.

"But I love the way this group of guys competed. We were battling right until the end."

On July 21, the 51s held a 7 1/2-game lead over El Paso. However, injuries, call-ups by the New York Mets and the Chihuahuas getting hot at the right time all contributed to Las Vegas' demise.

As he entered the 51s' clubhouse, reliever John Church said, "Well, that sucked." Everyone inside was saying the same thing.

One bad inning undid the 51s. They led 2-1 heading into the sixth inning when the roof caved in on starter Logan Verrett (5-3). Four straight singles and two errors, along with a triple by Julio Morban, led to five Tacoma runs and a 6-2 Rainiers lead.

The 51s, who had rallied from a 7-2 deficit to win 8-7 Saturday, didn't have enough magic left for an encore. They got a run back in the sixth but left two runners in scoring position in that inning and the seventh, and a runner at second in the eighth.

Las Vegas stranded nine runners as veteran right-hander Chien-Ming Wang got key outs when he needed them. Wang (4-5), the former Yankees starter who hasn't pitched in the majors since 2013, scattered 10 hits over eight innings. Logan Bawcom pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

Matt Reynolds was one of the few Las Vegas hitters to solve Wang, going 4-for-4 with two doubles. Brandon Allen also doubled twice.

"We were focused on trying to win," Reynolds said. "We knew we'd have to win no matter what was happening up in Reno. It just didn't happen for us."

NOTES — 51s center fielder Brandon Nimmo was held out of the lineup for the second straight night and remains day-to-day with a bruised knee suffered in Friday's 9-4 win. ... Right-hander Tim Stauffer (6-2, 3.50 ERA) starts for Las Vegas today, opposing Tyler Olson (2-5, 5.03).

— Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him: @stevecarprj

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