51s drop their 8th straight
When the 51s return home on Friday for one final series, there’s one franchise record they’ll be trying to avoid.
With an 8-7 walk-off loss Thursday to Sacramento at Raley Field, the 51s inched closer to a franchise record 87 losses and extended their losing streak to eight games, their longest of the season.
They currently sit at 52-86 after Juan Ciriaco’s single in the ninth inning off Kevin McGowan gave the River Cats the win after Phillip Evans had tied the game up with a solo home run with two outs in the top of the inning.
McGowan allowed a single to Ryan Lollis and a walk to Trevor Brown before Ciriaco’s hit ended the game.
The single came after a five-run comeback by the 51s.
“I thought that it was a good battle. I thought that the guys did a really good job after being down in the game 7-2 to come back and then tie it in the ninth,” manager Pedro Lopez said. “Unfortunately, we lost it in the ninth, but I thought that the guys battled well and they did a good job.”
After the two teams traded two-run home runs — one from Sacramento’s (62-75) Jae-Gyun Hwang in the first and one from Las Vegas’ Jhoan Urena in the fourth — the River Cats jumped ahead with two more runs in the fourth off Las Vegas starter Robert Gsellman.
Gsellman, who was recently sent down by the Mets, was making his first and only start for the 51s this season. He gave up seven runs — five earned — on 10 hits in his six-inning outing.
“I thought that he threw the ball well. I actually thought that he did,” Lopez said. “He gave up 10 hits. Some of the hits he gave up were soft hits (and) we made some mistakes behind him that kind of hurt him. You take those errors that we made behind him and I think the outcome is different, not only in his outing but also for the whole game.”
In Gsellman’s last inning, the River Cats scored three runs on RBI hits from Ciriaco, Ali Castillo and Slade Heathcott to extend their lead to five.
The 51s did managed to come back from that hole, cutting into it with four runs in the seventh on an RBI double from Evans, a run-scoring balk and a two-run home run from Jeff McNeil before eventually tying up the game in the ninth with the Evans home run.
Evans finished the day 4-for-5 with two RBIs but also had a tough night in the field, committing two throwing errors and dropping a ball during a rundown.
“I thought that even though he made those two errors … he also made some good plays,” Lopez said. “He had two good plays, one up the middle and the other one a backhand play. Unfortunately, he made those two errors, but I thought that he swung the bat well and gave us a chance.”
Up next
Who: Tacoma Rainiers at Las Vegas 51s
When: 7:05 p.m. today
Where: Cashman Field
Starters: Cody Martin (0-2, 4.18 ERA) vs. TBA
Coming up
Saturday: Tacoma at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Sunday: Tacoma at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.
Monday: Tacoma at Las Vegas, 12:05 p.m.
Update
The 51s return home for their final homestand of the season this weekend. They will have fireworks Friday night, fan appreciation night/35th anniversary jersey giveaways Saturday and Smith’s Value Menu Monday in a matinee for the final game of the season.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
