Knapp’s strong outing breaks 51s’ losing skid
Reeling from a season-high seven straight defeats, the 51s sent the Pacific Coast League’s losses leader to the mound against Nashville on Thursday hoping to avoid No. 8.
To Ricky Knapp’s credit, he righted the ship. Knapp (5-12) allowed only one run in 6 2/3 innings to lead Las Vegas to a 7-2 victory at First Tennessee Field. It marked back-to-back quality starts for Knapp for only the second time this season.
Knapp’s cause was helped by an offense that spotted him a 4-0 lead before he even threw his first pitch, even though slugging first baseman Dominic Smith was left out of the lineup.
The New York Mets traded first baseman Lucas Duda to the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday afternoon but 51s manager Pedro Lopez said Smith was getting a day to rest.
“He just had the day off,” Lopez said. “We were going to give him one yesterday but decided to play him because of the pitchers we were facing.”
Las Vegas didn’t need to muster much offense even with Smith on the bench since Knapp, 25, breezed through his first two trips through the Nashville order. The right-hander faced two batters more than the minimum through six innings as the 51s built a 7-0 lead.
Knapp allowed two doubles in the seventh that scored the Sounds’ first run and was pulled with two outs after walking Sierra Vista product Chris Carter. He allowed five hits while striking out four and walking one.
The victory was the 51s’ first in 11 games against the Sounds since 2014.
“He did a really good job pitching inside and using both sides of the plate,” Lopez said. “His fastball command tonight was off the charts.”
Knapp worked with a lead his entire outing thanks to a productive first inning for Las Vegas that saw eight men go to the plate. Designated hitter Jayce Boyd started the scoring with a two-out double that drove in two, then touched home himself on catcher Xorge Carrillo’s ground rule double.
First baseman Cody Decker followed up with another two-out RBI hit, this one a single, to score Carrillo.
A bases-loaded fielders’ choice grounder by Brandon Nimmo extended the 51s’ lead to 5-0 in the fourth, then in the seventh Travis Taijeron hit a two-run homer off the top of the wall in deep right centerfield.
The big cushion proved more than enough to get Las Vegas its first win in eight days.
“We got a really good outing from Knapp tonight and we swung the bats well,” Lopez said. “We’ve been swinging the bats well of late and tonight we just got the help we needed from the pitching staff.”
Up next
Who: 51s at Nashville Sounds
When: 5:05 p.m. today
Where: First Tennessee Park, Nashville, Tenn.
Starters: Mitch Atkins (2-4, 11.20 ERA) vs. Mitch Brady (3-1, 3.65 ERA)
Next five
Saturday: Colorado Springs at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday: Colorado Springs at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Monday: Colorado Springs at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Tuesday: Colorado Springs at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Thursday: Oklahoma City at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Update
Rehabbing Mets’ infielder Neil Walker left the 51s to rejoin the big-league club but was not activated from New York’s disabled list on Thursday. Walker joined Las Vegas for five games after being placed on the DL with a hamstring injury, going 5 for 19 with a double.
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow@BenSGotz on Twitter.
