51s can’t complete comeback in loss to Salt Lake
After chasing a ball in the dirt with two runners on for the first out of the sixth inning, first baseman Peter Alonso raised his bat to his knee and snapped it in half.
That strikeout, one of six for Salt Lake starter Jose Suarez, marked the end of the pitcher’s night.
And right after Suarez left, the 51s responded with three hits, producing their first three runs of the night to cut the Salt Lake lead to just one run at the time.
But for the 51s, that was as close as they would get, as the bullpen gave up a combined four runs in the next two innings in an 8-6 loss to Salt Lake on Thursday night in the series finale at Cashman Field.
“That’s the second or third time we’ve seen him. We’ve got to him a couple other times,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said of Suarez. “Today, he had his changeup working real well. Lefthanders didn’t fare well. That’s just frustration on Peter’s part.”
Suarez went 5 1/3 innings and wound up giving up two runs, both of which scored after his departure. He pitched with a lead for most of the night as Salt Lake (67-62) scored a pair of runs in the first and then one each in the fourth and fifth off Las Vegas (63-66) starter Drew Gagnon.
“He’s a guy that works really well. He’s got good stuff, a good fastball,” shortstop Luis Guillorme, who finished the night with three hits, said of Suarez. “You’ve just got to tip your hat to him. We got a few hits but we didn’t really do much against him and I don’t think it’s us. He was just pretty good tonight.”
After Las Vegas scored its first three runs, the Bees responded immediately with three of their own as Angels prospect Matt Thaiss hit a three-run blast off of reliever Gerson Bautista.
When the 51s responded with a Christian Colon two-run shot to left-center to cut the lead to two again, Salt Lake came right back with another one of its own.
Colton Plaia’s home run in the eighth inning brought the 51s within two. They had a runner on base in the ninth, but couldn’t capitalize on the threat.
“We know the bullpen. We’ve seen them the last three days. We had chances against them,” DeFrancesco said. “They’ve got to make pitches. We’ve got to take quality swings. I just thought today we had plenty of opportunities to try to add on runs, a bit hit here or there and we just didn’t get it.”
The 51s finished the day 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base.
“At one point (we) were down by what three or four and we ended up losing by two with a guy on second, it’s just going to happen,” Guillorme said. “You’ve just got to go through it and keep trying to put good at-bats in there.”
Worth noting
Reliever Logan Taylor left the game with forearm soreness, DeFrancesco said.
It was the same injury that landed him on the disabled list from May 21 through Aug. 1.
“He tried to come back from the injury. He rehabbed it,” DeFrancesco said. “He’s going to go check out the doctor, see what the diagnosis is.”
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Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
