After dropping three of four to Oklahoma City over the weekend, Las Vegas needed to retake control on their home stand. Fortunately, it was Duane Below‘s turn in the rotation. Below was coming off a 4-hit complete game shutout performance on May 19th, when he beat Tacoma on the road 2-0. In this day and age, complete games are a rarity, so it is understandable if no one expected a repeat performance from the lefty. But that is basically what the 51s got, with a few minor differences.

Not a shutout this time, but in a complete game 7-hit effort, Below allowed only 2 runs, 1 earned, walking none and striking out 2 against the Sky Sox. He lowered his ERA to 2.18. The unearned run came in the third when after a single by Colorado Springs shortstop Yadiel Rivera, Vegas shortstop Matt Reynolds failed to complete a force out on a ball hit by third baseman Chris Nelson. Rivera was safe at second and later scored on a ground out by second baseman Scooter Gennett. Below threw 72 of his 97 pitches for strikes and got most of his outs on the ground. He allowed one other single run in the sixth, the only inning where he allowed more than one hit. He faced the minimum number of batters in six of the nine innings.

Unlike in his last start, Below received ample support from his offense. Las Vegas scored 9 runs on 12 hits with a contribution from just about everybody.

Johnny Monell, just back from a stint in New York, led the assault with two hits, a sacrifice fly, and a total of 4 RBIs. Reynolds went 3-5 with two runs scored. T.J. Rivera and Brooks Conrad had two hits each, Rivera collecting 2 RBIs. Brandon Allen also had two hits including a home run. Alex Castellanos drove in two with a double and a sac fly.

The 51s will continue their four game series against Colorado Springs Tuesday as they send Steven Matz to the hill.

(photo: Metsblog)