Darnell’s homer crushes 51s as bullpen lets down Litsch

James Darnell greeted 51s reliever Danny Farquhar with a tiebreaking homer to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Tucson Padres pulled out a 5-3 victory over Las Vegas in the Pacific Coast League on Friday at Fort Wayne, Ind.

The 51s (47-45) tied the game at 3 in the top of the eighth on David Cooper's RBI groundout, but the Padres (46-46) -- the home team in the four-game, neutral-site series -- quickly rallied.

Darnell slugged the first pitch by Farquhar (3-2) over the left-field fence for his fourth homer. The Padres added an insurance run with none out on singles by Eric Patterson and Steve Tolleson and a sacrifice fly by Cedric Hunter.

Wade LeBlanc (9-1) got the win, going eight innings and allowing three runs and four hits. He struck out six and walked two. Brad Brach struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.

51s starter Jesse Litsch exited after six innings with a 2-0 lead, allowing two hits, striking out seven and walking three.

The bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Wil Ledezma retired one batter, then allowed three hits, including a two-run double by Guillermo Quiroz, and a walk. Ronald Uviedo relieved and promptly gave up a walk and an RBI single by Kyle Blanks.

The 51s scored single runs in the second, third and eighth innings.

In the second, Ryan Budde's sacrifice fly scored Adam Loewen, who had led off with a single. In the third, Darin Mastroianni (2-for-4) led off with a single, stole second, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cooper.

The teams continue the series at 3:05 p.m. PDT today and wrap it up at 10:05 a.m. Sunday. The 51s, who won the post-All-Star break opener 13-8 on Thursday, go to Colorado Springs on Monday for a four-game series and return home Friday for a four-game series against Tucson.