Costly error hurts 51s in loss to Sacramento

Las Vegas 51s pitcher Seth Lugo (27) throws the ball during a game at Cashman Field in April (Daniel Clark/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @DanJClarkPhoto

Before Sunday’s game started, the 51s knew they’d need to tap heavily into their bullpen with Seth Lugo making a spot start.

But a costly error in the second inning drove Lugo’s pitch count up, forced the 51s into their bullpen earlier than they would have liked and put them in a three-run hole they never recovered from in their 6-4 loss to Sacramento at Cashman Field.

Already down 1-0 after a Travis Ishikawa home run led off the inning, Gavin Cecchini made an error on a groundball to short, letting the ball trickle into the outfield. Instead of ending the inning, a run scored on the play. Another run scored later in the inning on a Ruben Tejada single.

Lugo, who was on a 60-pitch limit, only lasted three innings as a result, striking out six.

“It cost Seth one inning for sure, which would have been very good for the bullpen not to have to pitch as much as they did today,” 51s manager Wally Backman said.

The bullpen had to cover four innings the night before, and many of the team’s relievers are among league leaders in appearances.

“(Seth) threw probably I think (pitching coach Frank Viola) said 18 extra pitches, something like that,” Backman said. “In the position we’re in right now, short on pitching, and having to use the bullpen, it was very costly.”

After the River Cats added another run in the fourth off reliever Chasen Bradford, the 51s (41-35) started to claw back on a Johnny Monell two-run home run and Cecchini single in the bottom of the inning, cutting the lead to 4-3.

The 51s scored 16 runs the night before but had just six hits total Sunday.

Michael Conforto, sent down by the Mets on Saturday to rediscover his swing, had one of those hits, going 1-for-3 in his Triple-A debut after waking up at 5:45 a.m. in Atlanta.

“(I) flew over here and then just jumped in the game, so it’s a little bit of a whirlwind,” Conforto said. “It was a positive day other than the fact that we didn’t win the game, but I think as far as me working on things, it was a good day.”

Conforto also walked and scored a run on a Kevin Plawecki sacrifice fly as the 51s again cut Sacramento’s lead to one run in the fifth, but they never tied the game or took the lead.

“We fought back offensively. We didn’t get very many hits today, but we gave ourselves an opportunity, just didn’t get it done,” Backman said.

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand