Saarloos, River Cats silence 51s
Kirk Saarloos pitched seven strong innings Saturday night to lead the Sacramento River Cats to a 10-1 Pacific Coast League victory over the 51s in West Sacramento, Calif.
Saarloos (8-3), a seven-year major league veteran, limited Las Vegas (52-49) to one run on six hits and one walk, throwing 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes. The 51s had three of their hits in the seventh inning, with Kevin Howard driving in their lone run with a one-out single.
Danny Putnam and Travis Buck had back-to-back RBI hits with two outs in the third inning to give the River Cats (59-41) a 4-0 lead.
Brooks Conrad led off the bottom of the fifth with his 21st homer of the season for the River Cats, who held an 8-6 edge in hits.
Sacramento put the game away with a five-run seventh, in which the River Cats had just one hit, No. 9 batter Gregorio Petit's two-out, two-run single. Sacramento drew five walks in the inning off reliever Greg Miller, who threw one of the 51s' two run-scoring wild pitches in the inning.
Las Vegas starter Miguel Pinango (4-6) took the loss, giving up four runs on four hits and two walks in three innings.
