Losing streak hits 6 as 51s fall to El Paso

The 51s are mired in their longest losing streak of the year.

Saturday, they had their chances to snap out of it, leading at different points early in the game.

But in the end, they didn’t pitch well enough to do so, dropping their sixth straight game, this one an 8-6 loss to El Paso at Cashman Field.

The game was never quite out of reach but from the fifth inning on, the 51s were playing from behind.

“I mean what can I say? Out of words,” manager Pedro Lopez said. “I really don’t know. Came out. Swung the bats well, I thought. Had a few chances to take the lead again and we just couldn’t come up with a big hit but I felt like we just didn’t pitch well tonight.”

Starter Wilfredo Boscan tossed arguably his best outing of the season the last time out, throwing six scoreless innings and giving up just four hits in New Orleans.

But Saturday, he had trouble holding the Las Vegas lead.

“You locate your pitches and you’re going to get good results but whenever you’re up in the zone and make too many mistakes against any good hitting ball club — and not even a good hitting ball club, just anybody — you’re going to get hit. That’s just the bottom line. We’ve just got to do a better job executing our pitches. We just didn’t do that tonight.”

The Chihuahuas struck first in the game, scoring on a Jabari Blash single, which drove in Carlos Asuaje.

But Las Vegas charged back with Dominic Smith’s seventh home run of the season — a two-run shot — that gave them their first lead of the game.

Boscan got in trouble again in the third inning, coughing up two more runs.

But again, Smith came through, driving in two runs on a double to left. Desmond Jennings’ fielder’s choice drove in Smith, giving Las Vegas the 5-3 lead.

“Early on Dom did a really good job. Got the home run and then the two-run double down the left-field line,” Lopez said. “I think the runs were there. I think the run support was there. We just didn’t pitch tonight.”

After Smith gave the 51s their second lead of the night, the Chihuahuas chipped away with one in the fourth on an RBI single from their starting pitcher, Tyrell Jenkins, and took the lead in the fifth on a Dusty Coleman two-RBI single.

They added a run each in both the sixth and seventh innings — the latter coming off reliever Ben Rowen.

Kyle Regnault, recently called up from Double-A Binghamton, came in and pitched two scoreless innings after Rowen.

But it was a battle for all three Las Vegas pitchers as the Chihuahuas had at least one runner on in every inning.

“We’ve got to make better pitches. We’ve got to concentrate on executing our pitches,” Lopez said. “We did not have one inning, a 1-2-3 inning tonight. Every inning they had somebody on, so we really have to bear down. We really have to do a better job executing our pitches.”

The six-game losing streak dropped the 51s to 7-19 on the month.

“Right now it’s just really tough to watch and hoping for a better day tomorrow but (expletive), I mean it doesn’t seem to (expletive) come around so I don’t know,” Lopez said.

Up next

Who: El Paso Chihuahuas at Las Vegas 51s

When: 12:05 p.m. Sunday

Where: Cashman Field

Starters: Kyle Lloyd (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Steven Matz (0-1, 11.25 ERA)

Next five

Monday: El Paso at Las Vegas, 7:05 p.m.

Tuesday: El Paso at Las Vegas, 12:05 p.m.

Wednesday: Off

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

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

Update

Left-handed pitcher Kyle Regnault was called up from Double-A Binghamton and added to the roster on Friday. Also, catcher Kevin Plawecki was added to the roster on Saturday after being sent down by the Mets. Left-handed reliever Dave Roseboom was sent to the disabled list with a foot injury.

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