51s drop 4th straight as Salt Lake trip nears an end
One day earlier, the Mets publicly declared that Jacob deGrom, who had hyperextended his right elbow in his last start, would be OK to take his turn in the rotation on Monday night.
A day later, they changed course, putting deGrom on the disabled list.
With Corey Oswalt and Chris Flexen, two Las Vegas starters both on the 40-man roster, having pitched too recently to make a start Monday, the Mets instead tabbed P.J. Conlon to fill in for deGrom.
That sent the 51s into a bullpen game against Salt Lake, as Conlon was supposed to start Sunday. The 51s lost that game 5-3 on Sunday night at Smith’s Ballpark.
“I thought without a starting pitcher today, the guys battled,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said. “The bullpen did a nice job. (Drew) Smith, (Jacob) Rhame and (Corey) Taylor picked us up.”
The 51s (11-20) turned to Smith for the spot start because relievers Logan Taylor and Kevin McGowan were unavailable due to recent usage and being on the disabled list.
Smith, who had no prior minor league starts in his career, threw three innings, giving up two runs on four hits.
Salt Lake (20-11) scored once in the first inning on a Jose Fernandez RBI double and again in the third on a David Fletcher inside-the-park home run.
Rhame followed him into the game, tossing a season-high 60 pitches in four innings.
He gave up just one run — on a sacrifice fly — in the seventh inning.
“We didn’t have much. (Smith) had three days off so he was going to give us as much as he could,” DeFrancesco said. “Rhame also had a couple days off but the bullpen’s been spent. Oswalt only went 2 2/3 yesterday but we’ve got to keep fighting through this.”
The 51s, meanwhile, scored twice in the sixth inning on Gavin Cecchini’s second home run of the year.
After Salt Lake’s sacrifice fly, Las Vegas responded with one of their own — this from Zach Borenstein — to tie up the game in the eighth inning.
“Offensively, we didn’t do much today,” DeFrancesco said. “We only had four hits. The middle of the lineup 2-7, no hits today but nine strikeouts, 0-for-21, so it’s a tough day offensively.”
The Bees finally took a lead for good in the bottom of the eighth, scoring twice off Taylor when Chris Carter, one of the Pacific Coast League RBI leaders, tripled with two strikes and two outs.
“That’s just the way life in Triple-A (is),” DeFrancesco said. “You’re going to be short most of the time. You’ve got to do the best you can. That’s why we try to keep a couple extra pitchers around just in case days like this but today the three guys actually kept us in the game, gave us a chance giving up five runs against a pretty good offense. They did a good job.”
Brentz injured
Outfielder Bryce Brentz was taken out of the game after fouling a pitch off his foot.
DeFrancesco said he was taken for X-rays and they would know more on Monday.
More 51s: Follow Las Vegas 51s coverage at reviewjournal.com/51s and @
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
