51s fall after tough outing for Wilfredo Boscan

Salt Lake set the tone early Monday with four of the first five batters getting a hit.

That produced two first-inning runs, and they continued to pile on from there, beating Las Vegas 11-2 on Monday night at Cashman Field in the third game of the four-game set.

“(Wilfredo) Boscan got in trouble missing up in the zone and then we also made a couple errors behind him that kind of put him in a tough spot,” manager Pedro Lopez said. “Overall I thought that (it was) just a tough game and faced good pitching tonight.”

Las Vegas (51-78) managed just seven hits off Salt Lake (65-64) starter John Lamb in his six innings pitched.

Catcher Xorge Carrillo had two of them, driving in the team’s first run of the game in the second inning. Travis Taijeron drove in the other in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly.

“I think he did a good job of mixing speed, mixing his pitches, keeping us honest with his changeup and his fastball (and) locating very well,” Carrillo. “He did a good job. You’ve got to tip your hat.”

Meanwhile, Salt Lake tagged Boscan for a season-high nine runs in his 4 1/3 innings. Seven of the runs were earned after errors by Phillip Evans and Victor Cruzado. Las Vegas also made third error later in the game.

“(A) 3-6-3 that could have ended the inning right there and unfortunately it didn’t and then the fly ball to center field to center field by Cruzado — it happens. They’re human beings. They are going to make mistakes but I thought just overall it was a tough outing for him,” Lopez said.

In the second inning, Evans made a throwing error and Cruzado made an error an inning later, not catching a sacrifice fly ball. The batter, Nolan Fontana, reached third and eventually scored in the inning.

After scoring their two in the first, Salt Lake added three more in the second and two more in the third.

They scored three more runs the fifth and knocked Boscan out that inning.

With a bullpen day set for Tuesday, the 51s needed to stretch Boscan as far as they could.

“We were trying to get as many innings as we could get from him without putting his career in jeopardy. We weren’t going to leave him out there to die,” Lopez said. “He ended up throwing (107) pitches.”

Though the 51s placed two pitchers — Alberto Baldonado and Logan Taylor — on the disabled list on Monday, they should still have a well-rested bullpen heading into the series finale.

After Boscan, Beck Wheeler threw 2 2/3 innings and newly called up Kelly Secrest threw two.

“I just needed to get through today,” Lopez said. “Today was a big day. Get through today and try to save as many pitchers as I can for tomorrow. The good thing is the day after tomorrow, we have an off day so today was the biggest day of all. It was just trying to get through the game, trying to cover nine innings with minimal damage and I thought that we did that.”

Up next

■ Who: Salt Lake Bees at Las Vegas 51s

e When: 7:05 p.m. Tuesday

■ Where: Cashman Field

■ Starters: TBD vs. Luis Mateo (1-0, 6.41 ERA)

Next five

■ Wednesday: Off

■ Thursday: Reno at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.

■ Friday: Reno at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.

■ Saturday: Reno at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.

■ Sunday: Reno at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.

Update

The 51s added left-handed pitcher Kelly Secrest and infielder Jhoan Urena to their roster and sent left-hander Alberto Baldonado and righty Logan Taylor to the disabled list.

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