Gabriel Ynoa sharp again in 51s’ 2-1 win over River Cats

The Sacramento River Cats already had seen Gabriel Ynoa in two starts in the first month of the season entering Saturday’s game.

But any familiarity they might have gained didn’t seem to matter much.

The 51s starter turned in another quality start — his fifth straight — and his third solid performance against Sacramento in a 2-1 Pacific Coast League victory at Raley Field in West Sacramento, California.

The seven-plus inning outing was Ynoa’s longest of the season.

“Ynoa pitched a great game, pounded the strike zone,” Las Vegas manager Wally Backman said. “Ynoa was the whole thing.”

Ynoa allowed four hits, one a home run to Grant Green in the second inning that left fielder Ty Kelly got a glove on and nearly robbed.

Las Vegas (14-14) gave him all the support he needed in the third, starting the inning with two walks and ending it with two runs. Dilson Herrera and T.J. Rivera drove in the runs on a single and sacrifice fly.

Starting in the bottom of the third, Ynoa retired 14 of 15 batters and at one point eight straight.

“He didn’t get in a whole lot of trouble,” Backman said. “They only had four runners in scoring position, and they were 0-for-4 in scoring position, so I thought he was in command of the game the whole time.”

Ynoa left in the eighth after giving up a single to Mitch Delfino to lead off the inning, and relievers Josh Smoker and Josh Edgin each tossed a perfect inning.

Ynoa threw 100 pitches — the first time a 51s starter has cracked triple digits all season — and possibly could have gone longer.

If Delfino hadn’t gotten on, Backman was going hitter-to-hitter with his starter. But after the way he had pitched all day, he wasn’t risking leaving him in too long.

“I thought he had more in the tank, but I wasn’t going to let Ynoa lose that game tonight the way he pitched,” Backman said.

The River Cats fell to 13-17.

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand