After a 4-4 start to the season on the road, the Las Vegas 51s came home to a capacity crowd last night at Cashman Field and sent right-hander Tyler Pill to the mound against the Fresno Grizzlies.
Pill was greeted rudely with a double to right by Grizzlies shortstop Nolan Fontana. After an infield single by right fielder Alex Presley, first baseman Jon Singleton hit a dribbler back to Pill who bobbled the ball before recovering to shovel it to catcher Kevin Plawecki at home. Fontana managed to avoid Plawecki’s tag, scoring Fresno’s first run, though it appeared that the home plate umpire called Fontana out before then making a late safe call. Third baseman Matt Duffy then grounded into a double play, and left fielder L.J. Hoes grounded out to end the inning.
The 51s went down in order in the bottom of the inning. Back on the mound, Pill struggled mightily as he gave up a triple to deep center field to designated hitter Domingo Santana. After center fielder Andrew Alpin drew a walk, Santana scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Max Stassi. Alpin tagged and moved to second and scored on a double to center by second baseman Ronald Torreyes. Fontana’s second straight hit, a single to right, moved Torreyes to third, and he was plated by a deep sac fly to left by Presley. Singleton then came up drove home Fontana with a 2-run homer to knock Pill out of the box.
Pill went only one and two thirds innings, giving up 6 hits, 6 runs, 6 earned, with one walk, one home run and no strikeouts. Pill was replaced by right-hander John Church who retired the next two batters, but Fresno had put up a 5 spot to increase their lead to 6-0.
The 51s scored a run in the bottom of the inning on three consecutive singles by DH Alex Castellanos, first baseman Johnny Monell and Plawecki. But the Grizzlies scored two more runs in the third off Church. Las Vegas answered with one more run in the bottom of the inning but now trailed 8-2.
Manager Wally Backman called upon lefty Duane Below to start the fourth inning. Below struck out the side working around a single and a double by Duffy and Hoes respectively, stranding both. He continued his solid effort by striking out two more in the 5th before Torreyes reached on an error by shortstop Matt Reynolds. After walking Fontana, Below got Presley to ground out to end the inning. Reynolds singled with two outs in the bottom of the inning and, after Castellanos was hit by a pitch, scored on a single by Monell.
Below pitched a one-two-three sixth to keep Vegas in the game. And when the 51s came up in the bottom of the inning, their bats came alive. Left fielder Brandon Allen led off with a single and right fielder Travis Taijeron walked. Allen scored on a well struck ground rule double to left by third baseman Wilfredo Tovar which bounced around in the visitor’s bullpen. This knocked out Fresno’s starter Alex White, who was replaced by Gonzalo Sanudo. After second baseman Dilson Herrera reached on a fielder’s choice, Reynolds came up and doubled in both Tovar and Herrera to cut Fresno’s lead to two runs. Castellanos and Monell hit back to back home runs to bring in 3 more runs. Plawecki and Allen followed with back to back singles. Fresno’s Jordan Jankowski came in and got Taijeron to line out to right to put a stop to the rally, but Vegas had taken a 9-8 lead.
After sitting through his his team batting around and two pitching changes by the Grizzlies, Below was not as sharp when he started the seventh. After a fielding error by Tovar, who is normally a shortstop, allowed Santana to reach base, Fresno retook the lead with back to back homers by Aplin and Stassi. Below was able to retire the next three batters to get out of the inning, but his effective relief stint was marred as Fresno now led 11-9. With one out in the eighth, Chase Bradford came on to finish the inning, working around the second error of the game by Tovar. In the bottom of the inning, Las Vegas rallied for one more run on a double by Castellanos and singles by Plawecki and Allen.
Bradford and Jack Leathersich combined to retire the Grizzlies in order in the ninth, but the 51s went down in order in the bottom of the inning, falling just short of another comeback.