51s let game slip away in ninth

The 51s appeared poised for a comeback victory after erasing a 4-1 deficit to tie the game in the eighth inning.

But Oklahoma City answered with four runs in the ninth and pulled out an 8-5 victory over Las Vegas on Thursday before an announced crowd of 5,596 at Cashman Field.

The 51s, who have lost four of their last five, fell to 15-25.

Leading off the ninth for the RedHawks (18-20), Joaquin Arias reached on an error by 51s third baseman Kevin Howard, who couldn't stop a hard-hit ground ball.

"I just got caught in between hops and didn't come up with it," said Howard, who was released by the 51s last year, but is back after being acquired by the Toronto Blue Jays from the San Diego Padres on Saturday. "We made some mistakes at the end there. It was kind of sloppy, but we fought hard and came back. It just doesn't go your way sometimes."

With the infield in, Esteban German faked a bunt, then swung away, bouncing a single over Howard's head to put runners at first and second with no outs.

Nate Gold loaded the bases with a fielder's choice grounder to 51s pitcher Bill Murphy, and Max Ramirez followed with a sacrifice fly to give Oklahoma City a 5-4 lead.

Brandon Boggs ripped an opposite-field, two-run double down the left-field line to make the score 7-4, and Kevin Richardson added an RBI single.

"We battled back and did a great job, but then our defense kind of let us down," Las Vegas manager Mike Basso said. "They executed a good slash (fake bunt), and it snowballed from there."

The game began as a duel of Dominican-born pitchers, 51s left-hander Fabio Castro and RedHawks right-hander Neftali Feliz.

Castro extended his scoreless-innings streak to 24 1/3 before Ramirez ended it in the fourth with a solo homer over the right-field wall to break a scoreless tie.

Castro, who had scattered eight hits in 21 scoreless innings entering the game, gave up two earned runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.

Feliz, the Texas Rangers' top prospect, hit 99 mph on the radar gun several times and allowed one hit through five innings. He gave up one run on four hits in six innings, with one walk and four strikeouts.

The RedHawks increased their lead to 3-0 in the sixth, when 51s second baseman Joe Inglett made a throwing error while trying to complete a double play on a ball hit by Jose Vallejo.

Inglett, a UNR product, was activated from the disabled list (hamstring) before the game and was still a little rusty.

German hit an RBI single in the seventh to give Oklahoma City a 4-1 lead, but Las Vegas scored two in the bottom to close to 4-3. Angel Sanchez drove in a run with a groundout, and Buck Coats drove in a run on an error by Arias.

The 51s tied it in the eighth on Jason Lane's sacrifice fly.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.