Las Vegas 51s takes 3rd game of series against Salt Lake
June 7, 2017 - 11:38 pm
In their first crack against division-leading Salt Lake, the 51s lost a game they probably should have won.
In their second, they lost a game they definitely should have won.
The third time around, they finally tallied a win.
Las Vegas beat Salt Lake 5-3 on Wednesday night at Smith’s Ballpark after two difficult one-run losses thanks to a 6 2/3-inning outing from Wilfredo Boscan and big hits from Travis Taijeron, Brandon Nimmo and Amed Rosario.
“The guys have been doing a good job. We’ve been playing well even though we dropped the first two games here,” manager Pedro Lopez said. “We’ve played well enough to win those two games. Unfortunately, we didn’t but we came out and we executed a game plan and we did a good job.”
In the series opener, their pitchers gave up seven two-out runs and in the second game of the series, they gave up two ninth-inning runs and lost, 2-1.
But the positive sign for the 51s — both against Salt Lake (33-27) and on their road trip overall — is that they have been competitive against some of the top teams in the Pacific Coast League.
The 51s (24-36), at the bottom of their division, still have a long way to go to dig themselves out of the hole they fell into in May.
But after splitting two games with Reno, they now have a chance to split a series against Salt Lake.
“I think the competition is good and I think we should take advantage of it,” Lopez said.
The 51s did that Wednesday, winning a game they never trailed.
They opened the scoring in the fourth inning with Taijeron’s RBI double scoring Dominic Smith to give Las Vegas a 1-0 lead.
After retiring the first 10 batters of the game, Boscan gave up a single to Kaleb Cowart, who eventually would come around to score and tie the game at 1-all.
Nimmo’s two-run triple in the fifth put Las Vegas back up at 3-1. The Bees cut the lead to 3-2 in their half of the inning, but Rosario belted his sixth homer of the year in in the seventh — a two-run shot — to give the 51s some breathing room. and a 5-2 lead.
Salt Lake got one run back in the seventh, but Kyle Regnault relieved Boscan and ended the threat by getting Michael Bourn to ground out.
“I think that he’s being aggressive. He’s able to work ahead and he’s able to mix pitches well,” Lopez said. “The key is making sure that he commands his fastball and he did that tonight.”
Regnault, Kevin McGowan and Chasen Bradford shut down the Bees. Bradford threw a scoreless ninth and struck out two and earned his eighth save of the season, the day after he blew a save opportunity.
“He located his pitches,” Lopez said. “Last night he was able to work ahead and just unfortunately he made some mistakes over the middle of the plate but tonight he executed his pitches the way he wanted to and he got the result that he wanted to.”
And on their third try against Salt Lake, the 51s got the results they wanted, too.
Up next
Who: Las Vegas 51s at Salt Lake Bees
When: 11:05 a.m.
Where: Smith’s Ballpark
Starters: Blake Beavan (0-2, 9.00 ERA) vs. Daniel Wright (2-2, 9.00 ERA)
Next five
Friday: Las Vegas at Tacoma, 7:05 p.m.
Saturday: Las Vegas at Tacoma, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday: Las Vegas at
Up next
Who: Las Vegas 51s at Salt Lake Bees
When: 11:05 a.m.
Where: Smith’s Ballpark
Starters: Blake Beavan (0-2, 9.00 ERA) vs. Daniel Wright (2-2, 9.00 ERA)
Next five
Friday: Las Vegas at Tacoma, 7:05 p.m.
Saturday: Las Vegas at Tacoma, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday: Las Vegas at Tacoma, 1:35 p.m.
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Sacramento at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Update
Blake Beavan will make his first start for the 51s since returning from Double-A Binghamton. Beavan was 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA in three starts with Binghamton. He will slot in the rotation spot for Steven Matz. A lefty who made three rehab starts with Las Vegas, Matz is scheduled to make his first start this season for the Mets on Saturday. In addition, starter Ricky Knapp was transferred to the temporarily inactive list.
More 51s: Follow all of our Las Vegas 51s coverage online at reviewjournal.com/51s and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.