Las Vegas outslugs Salt Lake for 13-6 win
When the first batter of the game, Jose Fernandez, took 51s starter Cody Martin deep, perhaps it was a sign of things to come on Tuesday night.
The game quickly turned into a slugfest in the early innings as the teams combined to score 14 runs in the first two innings alone. Thanks to a seven-run second inning and five total home runs, the 51s beat Salt Lake 13-6 in the series opener at Cashman Field.
Martin’s night ended abruptly in the first inning after just six pitches as he walked off with the trainer complaining of right shoulder soreness which manager Tony DeFrancesco said could keep him out of the last couple weeks of the season.
He gave up two runs in his 1/3 inning pitched and reliever Corey Taylor, who went 3 2/3 innings in a long relief outing, gave up another pair of runs in the second inning.
But the 51s (62-65) responded with force in both the first and second innings.
Bryce Brentz and Patrick Kivlehan hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning accounting for their first three runs and Las Vegas beat up on Salt Lake (66-61) starter Osmer Morales in the second inning, knocking him out of the game.
“Their starter we’ve faced quite a few times already,” DeFrancesco said. “We knew he’d try to trick us with some offspeed. They were patient, they waited for the ball to get up and they hit it when it did.”
Matt den Dekker’s 13th home run of the year provided three runs for the 51s in the inning to retake the lead. Kivlehan and Christian Colon each hit RBI doubles in the inning while the 51s also scored on a Salt Lake error.
Kivlehan and den Dekker each had three extra-base hits in the game while Christian Colon added three hits of his own. Luis Guillorme and Cody Asche had two apiece.
For Kivlehan, it was his ninth home run of the month and 16th of the year as he continues his recent tear.
“It’s nothing in particular that I’m doing anything different,” Kivlehan said. “It’s kind of just one of those streaks where I’m just seeing it well and putting good swings on the ball and just good things happen.”
Guillorme and Peter Alonso also added home runs for the 51s later in the game as the offense came through following a relatively quiet series in El Paso.
In three of the four games, the 51s went hitless with runners in scoring position, but there were promising signs for the offense in Sunday’s series finale in El Paso and then again on Tuesday.
Despite the win, the 51s are on the verge of officially being eliminated from playoff contention with an elimination number of one, a technicality as the sweep in El Paso had already sealed their fate.
“That’s a team that we needed to win (against) to get back into the race,” DeFrancesco said. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out our way. Moving forward hopefully we finish strong. Again, the goal is to try to finish over .500.”
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Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.