Two pitchers and a catcher help Las Vegas take series over Iowa

Kevin Plawecki had three RBIs including the game-winner in the ninth. Duane Below pitched seven innings and only allowed four hits. Paul Sewald pitched two perfect innings and struck out three.

Add it all up and it equals a 6-2 victory for the 51s over the Iowa Cubs on Sunday afternoon to take a 3-1 series victory at Principal Park, in large part because the team only had to use two pitchers.

“That’s every manager’s dream,” 51s skipper Wally Backman said. “Unless your starter is going to throw a shutout.”

The 6-2 final may not seem like the game was as close as it was, but the 51s and Cubs were playing a 2-2 tie when the ninth inning began. Eric Campbell doubled and Travis Taijeron to set the stage for Plawecki, who already had a two-run homer in the fourth inning.

“He’s a major league catcher, he’s not going to be here very long,” Backman said.

Plawecki singled in Campbell and took second on a throwing error. A 3-2 lead was not all for Las Vegas, adding three more on a single, sacrifice fly and double.

Below started on the mound and was superb, allowing just a run in the fourth and a solo home run in the seventh inning to limit the damage. In his other five innings, he faced the minimum amount of hitters.

After Below’s afternoon was finished, Sewald took over and continued the series trend of bullpen dominance for the 51s. He threw a perfect eighth inning to set up the Las Vegas ninth.

Sewald even took an at-bat in the ninth before coming back out in the bottom half and struck out two before getting a groundout to end the game. Sewald finished with two perfect innings and three strikeouts.

Relievers Jim Henderson, Chasen Bradford and Zach Walters were unavailable, so when the 51s scored the extra runs in the ninth, Backman figured it would be worth the

“We scored the extra runs and I wanted to run him back out there,” Backman said. “For him to finish the game like that was huge for our bullpen.”

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