Sacramento’s Ty Blach outduels Duane Below in 6-0 51s defeat

If you tell a team its starter will turn in a season-high in innings pitched and strikeouts, the team figures it can chalk that up as a win.

Despite Duane Below’s solid performance on the mound, his opponent one-upped him, as Sacramento starter Ty Blach saw Below and raised him, to the tune of a six-hit shutout to lift the River Cats over the 51s 6-0 Monday night at Cashman Field.

“He pitched better than me,” Below said. “You come out here to compete and we competed and he was on the winning end. He pitched a hell of a game.”

Below tossed a season-high eight innings, allowing four runs (three earned) and six hits while striking out seven, which tied for a season-high.

Unfortunately for Below and the 51s, Blach was unsolvable until it was too late.

After Kevin Plawecki’s single for Las Vegas in the second inning, Blach retired nine in a row, allowed a double to Nevin Ashley in the fifth, then retired nine in a row again before an infield single by Ty Kelly in the eighth. Ashley was the only Las Vegas hitter to reach second base against Blach before the ninth.

It was in the ninth that Blach finally showed signs of weakness, allowing singles to the first two 51s, but an Eric Campbell double play killed any chances of a rally. A flyout on the next batter ended the game.

“We kept falling further and further behind in the game,” 51s manager Wally Backman said. “I tip my hat to (Blach), he got outs. I thought offensively we could have been better.

Below had a shaky start to the game, walking the first two hitters and allowing them to score on a Gorkys Hernandez double two batters later, but settled in after that. He allowed an unearned run and a solo home run to Hernandez in the sixth. Hernandez finished with three RBIs.

“Falling behind is tough,” Below said. “I was able to get into a rhythm and start working on pitches. The biggest thing is getting the ball down and early on I was leaving it up and they were taking advantage.”

The defensive woes continued for shortstop Gavin Cecchini, who had two errors Monday, giving him 24 on the season, the most on the team. Catcher Johnny Monell is second with seven.

“It’s a physical mistake and it happens,” Backman said. “We just need to work with Gavin and get him better at shortstop.”

One of Cecchini’s errors led to an unearned run and it could have been worse than that. With a runner on first in the fifth inning, Cecchini fielded what looked like a double-play ball, but flung it passed second base and into right field. Instead of nobody on and two outs, there was nobody out and two men in scoring position.

The next batter scorched a frozen rope right at Cecchini, which bounced in and out of his glove. It was ruled a base hit, allowing the runner on third to score. Below limited the damage to just one run in the inning.

“I walked two guys in the first. I don’t want to do that and (Cecchini) doesn’t want to make errors,” Below said. “You need to have each others’ backs. He’s made a lot of good plays for me behind me and today just wasn’t his day.”

Chase Huchingson, fresh off an elbow injury that placed him on the disabled list, started the ninth inning on the mound, but was removed with two outs with an apparent injury.

Backman said Huchingson removed himself from the game, but gave no further update and did not say if it was his elbow.

The River Cats have just 32 wins on the season (32-47), but exactly a quarter of them have come against the 51s (41-36). Sacramento leads the season series 8-7 with the 16th and final installment coming Tuesday afternoon.