5 home runs propel 51s past Albuquerque

There were encouraging signs throughout the lineup for the Las Vegas 51s, who used an offensive outburst in the fifth inning to overcome the Albuquerque Isotopes for the third straight night on Friday.

Las Vegas, after falling behind for the first time on the night, responded with six runs in the fifth — all on home runs — to beat Albuquerque 11-9 on Friday night at Isotopes Park.

It was one of the team’s best offensive showings of the season as it finished with 17 hits — four each from Gavin Cecchini and Dominic Smith. Three different players — Zach Borenstein, Bryce Brentz and Matt den Dekker each had two hits.

“Gavin has really been swinging the bat well. Today he hit his 10th double. We’re only in the first couple weeks of the season but he’s doing a much better job staying back and driving the ball,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said. “I think Borenstein has been pretty consistent with us. It’s nice to see Brentz hit his fifth home run. After a slow start, he’s a big part of the middle of the offense. Then once Dom gets comfortable and starts driving the baseball, that’s a nice 2-3-4 combination. Playing in these ballparks you can get a lot of confidence and I think they’re starting to feel it now.”

The scoring started early for Las Vegas, which picked up two runs in the first inning on a Smith RBI single and a Johnny Monell RBI groundout.

The 51s (8-14) added another run in the second on Cecchini’s first home run of the season.

But starter Marcos Molina, the Mets’ eighth prospect per MLBPipeline, started to run into trouble in the third after two scoreless innings to begin the game.

“His second start here in Triple-A, he’s finding out that execution in pitches is very important,” DeFrancesco said. “He’s going to have to continue to get his secondary pitches over (and) be consistent when he’s ahead in the count.”

Molina gave up three in the third to tie up the game and after Las Vegas took back the lead in the top of the fourth, the Isotopes added on with two more in the bottom of the frame off Molina to take their first lead of the night.

It didn’t last long.

Home run after home run helped knock Albuquerque (8-14) starter David Holmberg out of the game.

Brentz and Phillip Evans both hit two-run blasts and David Thompson’s first home run of the season ended Holmberg’s night.

Reliever David Holman followed him in and gave up a home run of his own, this one den Dekker’s third of the season.

All told, the 51s scored six runs, building up a lead that withstood a couple Isotopes’ rallies in later innings.

Albuquerque added on two apiece in the sixth and eighth innings off of Logan Taylor and Corey Taylor respectively.

Reliever Hansel Robles came in and nailed down the save for the 51s, his second of the season, helping the the 51s win their first series and string together their first three-game winning streak of the year.

“(I was) real pleased with the offense today,” DeFrancesco said. “They’ve been playing hard. Getting a little confidence now. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

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Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.