Gabriel Ynoa’s return to form not enough as 51s fall 2-1 to Omaha

An old-fashioned pitcher’s duel was broken in the only way fitting for an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel: a soft-hit tapper in the seventh inning to ruin an ace getting his groove back.

Sure enough a groundball that barely bent the grass blades scored the eventual game-winning run for the Omaha Storm Chasers Monday night, lifting them to a 2-1 victory over the Las Vegas 51s at Werner Park.

“The one thing that Omaha has is they have some speed,” 51s manager Wally Backman said. “They’ve always been a team with speed and pretty fundamentally sound.”

Gabriel Ynoa has not had a great summer. Over the last month and a half the Las Vegas righty has an ERA of 6.65, but maybe all he needed to get back on track was the All-Star break.

He took the mound for the first time in the second half Monday, going seven strong innings and allowing just two runs. Unfortunately his normally steady offense couldn’t quite deliver him enough run support to get the win.

Ynoa pitched six efficient innings of one-run ball, throwing just 70 pitches. In the seventh he missed his spot on an 0-2 pitch to Omaha slugger Jorge Bonifacio, who one-hopped the wall for a double. He advanced to third on a single and scored on a soft grounder to third baseman T.J. Rivera.

Ynoa went seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out two.

“He pitched ahead of the count, had good control of the strike zone, got groundballs when he needed to,” Backman said. “It’s one of his better starts even though he gave up two runs.”

Las Vegas got on the board via an Eric Campbell double scoring Brandon Nimmo – playing in his first game in Las Vegas after being optioned from New York Monday – to open the scoring in the third inning.

Omaha answered in the fourth with a Raul Mondesi leadoff triple to break a string of nine in a row retired by Ynoa, who then hit Raymond Fuentes with a pitch. Mondesi scored on a double play by the next hitter.

Omaha won a game in which neither of its runs scored on balls that left the infield.

“Ynoa threw a good game, the other guy had a good game who had a high ERA,” Backman said of Omaha starter Christian Binford, who entered the game with a 6.83 ERA.

The 51s had a chance in the ninth. They sent two All-Stars and a major leaguer to the plate against Omaha closer Andrew Edwards, but after T.J. Rivera grounded out, Travis Taijeron struck out and Matt Reynolds grounded out, the game was over.

Edwards and fellow Omaha reliever Clayton Mortensen combined to pick up Binford by throwing three scoreless innings between them, striking out four. Binford went six innings and gave up just one run on four hits to collect the win.

Justin Emerson can be reached at jemerson@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @J15Emerson