51s rise but don’t shine in ‘school day’ lesson

Visitors to Las Vegas usually are the ones who have a hard time getting up in the morning.

But the 51s, not the New Orleans Zephyrs, took awhile to get going in a game that started at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Cashman Field, where thousands of local fifth-graders took a field trip on "school day."

Las Vegas, which entered with the most walks allowed (163) and second-worst ERA (5.44) in the Pacific Coast League, got schooled as it fell behind 5-0 after four innings and never led in a 9-8 loss to New Orleans (19-21).

The 51s (17-21), tied for the fewest wins in the PCL, fell to 2-14 when trailing after six innings and 0-11 when losing after eight.

"I didn't know that," Las Vegas manager Lorenzo Bundy said. "In a lot of those games, we're down a lot of runs early, and lots of times it's tough to come back. We did battle back today to tie it up, but we just couldn't get over the hump.

"It was good to see they didn't quit, but it was a tough day today, coming back to play at 10:30 in the morning."

In his final start for Las Vegas, veteran right-hander Joe Mays gave up five runs, four earned, on eight hits in five innings. Mays, a former All-Star with the Minnesota Twins who went 1-2 with a 5.16 ERA for the 51s, exercised an escape clause in his contract that allowed him to become a free agent if the Dodgers didn't promote him by Tuesday.

The only starter with a winning record for Las Vegas is D.J. Houlton (4-2, 3.67 ERA). Pitching has been the team's biggest weakness.

"Pitching is 90 percent of baseball. If you don't compete there, you're not going to have a good team," Bundy said. "The guys have to get better and make more quality pitches.

"Early in the year, (the problem) was command. They weren't throwing a lot of strikes. We've been a little bit better with that lately, but we need more quality strikes."

The 51s scored four in the sixth on run-scoring hits from Larry Bigbie, James Loney, Delwyn Young and Luis Maza to cut their deficit to 5-4, but Ricky Ledee hit a two-run homer in the seventh to give the Zephyrs a 7-4 lead.

Loney made the score 7-5 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and later in the inning Mitch Jones hit his second homer in two days to tie the score at 7.

New Orleans answered in the eighth when Andy Tracy deposited the first pitch he saw from reliever Matt White over the right-field wall for a two-run shot that gave the Zephyrs the lead for good.

Loney drilled a one-out RBI double in the ninth to make the score 9-8, but Ivan Maldonado entered and struck out Jones and Kelly Stinnett to end the game.

Young went 4-for-4 with a team record-tying three doubles for the 51s, who are off today before embarking on an eight-game trip to Portland (Ore.) and Tacoma (Wash.). Las Vegas, 12-12 at home, is 5-9 on the road.