51s capitalize on Memphis errors in win
Good teams are usually good, in part, because they don’t often beat themselves.
But Monday, the Pacific Coast League’s top team, which entered the day tied with a league-best .983 fielding percentage did just that. The Memphis Redbirds were shaky defensively all night, committing five errors.
Las Vegas won the series finale 10-8 at Cashman Field, surging ahead of the Redbirds in the seventh inning when right fielder Adolis Garcia dropped a Dominic Smith fly ball that would have been the final out of the inning.
Instead, two runs scored and the 51s (52-56) took the lead back right after Zach Borenstein had tied the game up with an RBI single.
“I was telling Smitty right as he was hitting, the wind changed directions. It came in hard. The right fielder never made an adjustment,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said. “The wind knocked it down. When a team makes five errors, sometimes they don’t deserve to win.”
That was part of a five-run seventh inning which saw the 51s complete a comeback after being down 7-1 to Memphis (68-40) earlier in the game.
Memphis had taken a lead earlier in the game, battering around Corey Oswalt, who was making his first start since being sent down by the Mets.
Oswalt surrendered five runs in the fourth inning and another two in the fifth. He gave up seven runs on nine hits, including two home runs — a three-run blast to Edmundo Sosa and a two-run shot to Max Schrock.
“I just thought some of the pitch selection wasn’t very good,” DeFrancesco said. “He tried to outthink those guys, tried to sneak fastballs by them. That’s very good hitting team over there. You can’t make mistakes. The longball, it seems like that’s their game.”
But after falling behind by six runs, the 51s started to battle back in the fifth inning.
Peter Alonso’s RBI double gave the 51s their second run of the game and Jose Lobaton hit a bases-clearing double later in the inning cutting the lead to just two.
It was one of four hits on the night for Lobaton, who drove in four in the win. The catcher has seven hits in his last three games and he said he has changed his stance recently and has been trying to stay inside the ball more.
“I’ve been lucky. I’ve been finding holes. I’ve been working a lot on my swing. I’ve been trying to change little things and this little thing that I changed has made me feel good at home plate. Now time I go up there, I feel comfortable and able to hit the ball hard.”
Alonso, who had three hits, also drove in a pair of runs.
Just two of the runs the 51s scored off Memphis pitching were earned as Las Vegas used the later innings of the game to capitalize on the Redbirds’ errors.
“It’s one of those games where you can’t give up. This league is hard. You can be winning by nine. The ball flies,” Lobaton said. “The team knows and we always know that no matter if we’re down by seven, we can come back and that’s what we did today.”
Worth noting
Ty Kelly left the game after being hit with a pitch in the arm. DeFrancesco said he had a bad bruise but would be OK.
More 51s: Follow all of our Las Vegas 51s coverage online at reviewjournal.com/51s and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
