Salt Lake 5, Las Vegas 4

It’s tough to be Robert Carson right now. After surrendering a two-out, walk-off home run in Game One to Salt Lake the night before, he was unable to hold a tie yet again when he allowed the game winning run to cross the plate on a sacrifice fly last night. To be fair, he was hurt by a crucial passed ball in a ninth inning that turned a lead-off single in practically a lead-off double. He was forced to issue two intentional walks in the inning and it was a difficult situation to work around. However, these walk-off losses just plain feel deflating and it’s really hard to bounce back from them. The 51s are now down 2-0 in the series.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off the game with a home run for the 51s to put them on top early, and after three straight hits plated two runs for Salt Lake in the third, Rylan Sandoval chased home a pair of runs to put the score at 3-2. Salt Lake would tack on two more runs as the game went on — more importantly, one in the bottom of the eighth — and took a 4-3 lead into the top of the ninth. A clutch double by Francisco Pena tied the game up Las Vegas again, but it was all in vain.

Starter Rafael Montero struggled big-time and couldn’t make it out of the fifth inning. John Church provided two scoreless innings of relief behind him to get it all back on track.

Key Stats

Rylan Sandoval: 1-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 SB

Juan Centeno: 1-for-3, 2 SB

Francisco Pena: 1-for-1, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 1-for-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R

Rafael Montero: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 ER, 2 K

John Church: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 1 K