51s battle back for 2nd straight win over River Cats
It could have been their undoing.
The five-run lead that the 51s had built up disappeared rapidly in the bottom of the third inning Tuesday.
But Las Vegas was able to respond, scoring five more runs in the middle innings of the game to beat Sacramento 10-7 on Tuesday night at Raley Field.
The 51s (19-27) had jumped ahead with two runs in the second inning and another three in the third.
But starter P.J. Conlon’s unraveling came shortly after that. The southpaw collected two quick outs in the third after tossing two scoreless innings.
A 13-pitch at-bat that ended in a walk wound up leading to a five-run inning for Sacramento (22-24), wiping out the Las Vegas lead completely.
Conlon surrendered a grand slam to Hunter Pence in the inning and the very next batter, Ryder Jones, tied the game up with a home run of his own.
That inning spelled the end of Conlon’s night.
“That kind of was a big part of it. He battled the guy the whole time and he walked him and then before you knew it, he lost some of his command but I think it took a lot out of him,” manager Tony DeFrancesco said. “We tried to send (catcher Johnny) Monell out to give him a little breather but he left a changeup up to Pence so the grand slam got him and then Jones got him right after that. Early in the game, he was in total control. He was going through them but that’s what happens in baseball.”
After Conlon’s departure, a solid performance by the bullpen and a good offensive response pulled Las Vegas out of the tie.
Las Vegas scored on an Ezequiel Carrera RBI single and again on a Kyle Regnault safety squeeze which plated Zach Borenstein in the fifth inning.
They added three more runs in the sixth, two coming on play that included a wild pitch and an error and a third on a Monell sacrifice fly.
Five different players finished the day with multiple hits, including new addition Carrera, who went 2-for-5 with an RBI in his 51s debut.
“We saw Carrera for the first time today. I think he’s going to add some offense, defense to it. He can run well. He can cover ground in center field,” DeFrancesco said. “It was good to see Borenstein get a couple hits. We’re very left-handed dominant so when we face a lefty, it was good to see some of the lefthanders come through in those situations.”
It was a lineup made up of five guys — Christian Colon, Cody Asche, Patrick Kivlehan, Monell and Carrera — who were signed after the season began.
“I think the additions are going to start helping us down the road here and when we get our pitching in order, I think it’s going to give us a chance most nights,” DeFrancesco said.
After Conlon exited, Regnault gave up an unearned run in two innings, Drew Smith threw two scoreless frames, Buddy Baumann gave up a run in 2/3 of an inning and Tim Peterson nailed down the save with 1 1/3 scoreless of his own.
“The guys battled back again and got a couple big hits,” DeFrancesco said. “They ran the bases well early and then our bullpen did a nice job shutting them down.”
Kevin Plawecki, Hansel Robles to join 51s on rehab
Catcher Kevin Plawecki (hand) and Hansel Robles (knee) are both slated to begin rehab assignments for the 51s on Wednesday.
DeFrancesco said Plawecki would catch five innings on Wednesday and then seven and likely serve as the team’s designated hitter on Friday.
Robles is supposed to pitch Wednesday, probably get a day off and pitch again after that, DeFrancesco said.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
