Sacramento righty tough in Triple A, too

Right-hander Travis Banwart dominated the opposition in the Texas League this month, compiling a 1.17 ERA in four June starts for Double-A Midland.

In his Triple-A season debut for Sacramento on Thursday in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, Banwart kept opposing batters in a June swoon.

Unfortunately for the 51s, they were the opposition and could muster only two runs on five hits in six innings against Banwart in a 4-3 loss to the River Cats at Cashman Field.

"That guy threw the heck out of the ball. That was pretty impressive," Las Vegas manager Dan Rohn said. "He kept us off balance all night."

The 6-foot-4-inch Banwart walked two, struck out three and allowed one home run, a tying two-run shot to Chris Lubanski, while getting the win.

Sacramento (37-38) scored two runs with two outs in the second inning for a 2-0 lead. Michael Taylor walked, and Eric Sogard singled to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. A double steal moved up the runners for Anthony Recker, who launched a two-run double off the right-field wall.

Las Vegas tied it in the fourth on Lubanski's towering homer over the right-field wall.

Sean Henn replaced 51s starter Rommie Lewis to start the fifth and promptly allowed two runs. Recker stroked a one-out single, and speedy leadoff hitter Corey Wimberly hit a go-ahead RBI double. Matt Carson's RBI single made it 4-2.

The 51s (34-41) threatened in each of the last three innings but fell a run short as their three-game win streak ended.

Mike McCoy drew a two-out walk in the seventh and Jeremy Reed doubled to put runners at second and third for Brett Wallace, who grounded out weakly to second.

Edwin Encarnacion singled in the eighth and Lubanski and Brad Emaus drew two-out walks to load the bases for pinch hitter Adam Calderone, who was retired on a foul fly to right field.

In the ninth, Wallace crushed an opposite-field solo homer to left to make it 4-3 with two outs. J.P. Arencibia then singled, but Encarnacion flied out to left-center to end it.

"We put ourselves in position to win it. We just didn't get it done," Rohn said. "Any time you hold a team to four runs in this ballpark, you should win the ballgame."

Lewis and Henn were each on 70-pitch counts as they teamed up on the mound for their third straight start. Henn (2-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on six hits in four innings, with one walk and three strikeouts.

Lewis gave up two runs on two hits in four innings, with one walk and four strikeouts.

Edwar Ramirez threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the River Cats, and Sacramento first baseman Chris Carter, a Sierra Vista High School product, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.