Win streak ends for error-plagued 51s
The Albuquerque Isotopes cashed in on two ninth-inning errors to slip past the 51s 5-4 in a Pacific Coast League game Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M.
Las Vegas (55-39), which totaled four errors, saw its win streak end at eight games.
Dustin Garneau, who hit a two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning, led off the ninth with a single for the Isotopes (42-52). Roger Bernadina then sacrificed Garneau to second, and on the play, second baseman Dilson Herrera dropped the throw to first for an error.
After a single by Angelys Nina loaded the bases, the 51s got a forceout at home for the first out. But reliever Zach Thornton (4-3) then mishandled a grounder by pinch hitter Tim Smalling to allow Bernadina to score the winning run.
Nina finished 2-for-4 with an RBI double as Albuquerque matched Las Vegas‘ seven hits.
T.J. Rivera went 3-for-5 with a solo home run and scored twice for the 51s, who went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.
Las Vegas starter Dillon Gee gave up four runs, two earned, on five hits and two walks and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings.
Isotopes starter Aaron Laffey, who made 11 starts for the 51s in 2012, gave up one run on three hits and four walks and struck out two in five innings.
Albuquerque committed two errors in the final four innings, making Las Vegas‘ final three runs unearned.
Rivera‘s second homer of the season put Las Vegas up 1-0 in the fifth inning, and the Isotopes tied the score in the bottom half on Nina‘s RBI double.
Las Vegas scored twice in the sixth on an RBI single by Cory Vaughn and Gee‘s safety-squeeze bunt. Garneau‘s two-run single in the bottom of the inning tied the score at 3.
Rivera scored in the seventh on Brandon Allen‘s double-play grounder, and Albuquerque again tied it on Jeremy Barfield‘s pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
