9th-inning rally falls short as 51s drop crucial game to El Paso

A possible season-defining series for the 51s did not start the way they would have hoped.

Down 6 1/2 games in the Pacific Southern to the division-leading Chihuahuas, dropping the first game 6-5 Saturday night at Cashman Field was a worst-case scenario, especially because the tying run was 180 feet away in the ninth inning.

Still, 51s manager Wally Backman was not ready to have Saturday’s game story be the season obituary, while acknowledging his team is running out of time.

“Our back, it’s not against the wall yet, but we’re headed that direction,” he said. “We need to win baseball games.”

Down 6-3 in the ninth, Dilson Herrera and Ty Kelly reached base for T.J. Rivera to knock them both in with a double. The deficit was cut to one, there were no outs and the heart of the lineup was coming up.

Johnny Monell’s groundout did not help the 51s’ chances, but Travis Taijeron walked to put the winning run on first base. BAfter Kevin Plawecki flew out and Gavin Cecchini fouled out, the 51s were down 7 1/2 games in the standings with 36 to play.

“The way the guys fought back and played today, they’re not quitting,” Backman said. “They hit a little better than we did today. We just fell short in our rally.”

Starter Ricky Knapp had allowed just one run through the first four innings. He was brilliant in his previous start and it looked like Knapp was the pitcher the 51s needed to make up ground.

But after allowing two runs in the top of the fifth, Backman let Knapp hit for himself. He struck out to start the frame and the 51s did not score in the inning and went to the sixth down 3-2.

The decision to let him continue pitching didn’t go as planned. A single, sacrifice bunt and long home run Felipe Blanco later and Knapp was out of the game.

Backman said Knapp was not near his pitch limit for the game and felt confident turning the ball over to him in the sixth.

“At that time it was just a one-run game,” Backman said. “I thought he had pitched a pretty good game. Made a couple of bad pitches and it was a real bad pitch in the sixth.

“He had pitched a really good game (his) first game for us, so I was giving him a little bit of rope.”

El Paso added a sixth run on Carlos Asuaje’s solo shot in the eighth, which ended up deciding the game. The 51s scored twice in the ninth and lost by one run.

Roger Bernadina homered in the second inning for Las Vegas and the 51s are now 41-25 when they hit a long ball.

Justin Emerson can be reached at jemerson@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @J15Emerson