El Paso wins 8-7, sweeps 51s in 4-game series
For three straight days, Padres prospect Luis Urias relentlessly beat up on 51s pitching, collecting three hits in each of those games.
And so Sunday, with two outs in the ninth and a runner on, Urias was likely one of the last hitters the 51s wanted to see at the plate.
And for good reason.
Urias tripled off Chris Beck to tie up the game and one batter later, Ty France drove him in to send the Chihuahuas to a walk-off 8-7 victory over Las Vegas in the series finale at Southwest University Park.
The loss completed a four-game sweep for El Paso (73-52), spoiling what would have been a comeback win for the 51s (61-65).
Las Vegas had taken the lead in the eighth inning with a Bryce Brentz two-run blast, giving the 51s a 7-6 lead.
They scored three in the seventh and two in the eighth, battling back from a 6-2 deficit in the seventh inning.
Like Brentz, Patrick Kivlehan, who hit four home runs in three games earlier in the week, also hit a two-run blast. Zach Borenstein and Matt den Dekker (double) also contributed RBI hits in the game.
The offensive outburst was a positive sign for the 51s, who hadn’t produced a hit with runners in scoring position in the first three games of the series.
But the 51s still trailed for most of the night, falling behind in the first inning as the Chihuahuas got to starter Nabil Crismatt.
Crismatt went just 2⅔ innings and gave up four runs in the game.
The 51s got a couple solid outings from their bullpen, including 2⅓ scoreless innings from Kyle Regnault and two innings — and five strikeouts — from Jacob Rhame but Beck, with two outs in the ninth, got himself into trouble.
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Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
