Las Vegas 13, Salt Lake 9
It was certainly a day to forget on the pitching end for both Las Vegas and Salt Lake, but the 51s were able to win the slug-fest as they bested the Bees by a score of 13-9.
D.J. Mitchell got the start for the 51s and failed to make it out of the third inning. The 26-year old went 2.2 innings allowing four runs on five hits while walking one and failing to strike out a batter. In the second, Mitchell gave up a two-run shot to Kole Calhoun to hand the Bees a short-lived, 2-1 lead. Then, in the third, after allowing a fly ball to left off the bat of Luis Rodriguez to score Matt Long, Calhoun came through again with a double this time around to cut the Vegas lead to just a lone run. All in all the 51s pitching staff will hope to soon forget tonight even with the win. That is with exception to Justin Hampson who pitched a solid 1.2 innings while punching out three batters.
As unfortunate of a day as it was for Mitchell, Salt Lake’s Kip Wells had even worse of an evening. Wells went 3.1 frames allowing seven runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out just one. To start off the scoring barrage, Josh Satin ripped a solo shot with two outs in the bottom of the first. In the second, Wells allowed the first four runners of the inning to reach base, scoring two before a Kirk Nieuwenhuis groundout brought home Omar Quintanilla with the third run of the inning. Later in the inning Satin came through again with a knock to drive in Francisco Pena and make it a 5-2 ballgame.
Leading off the fourth, Nieuwenhuis launched one to right that cleared the fence to bring the 51s within a run of tying it. Collin Cowgill followed that up with a double and later in the inning was driven home on a groundball up the middle that went for hit off the bat of Wilmer Flores, tying up the game at seven and ending Wells’ night.
The 51s scored an additional three runs in the fifth and sixth, one of which the Bees would get back in the top of the seventh on a pickoff attempt gone awry from Hampson. In the bottom of the eighth however, Las Vegas broke things open, when with two out and two on, Quintanilla delivered a three-run bomb to make it a five-run, 13-8 game.
Josh Edgin allowed a run to score in the ninth but it was too little too late as Vegas went on to win by a score of 13-9, improving to 23-25 on the year.
Every batter in the starting lineup reached base safely for the 51s and six of which had multi-hit games including Quintanilla, who went 4-for-4 with a homer and a walk. If Tejada continues to struggle at the major league level, don’t be surprised if you see Quintanilla get called up to take some time away from him.
Key Stats
Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 1-for-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R
Josh Satin: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 RBI, 2 R
Wilmer Flores: 2-for-4, 1 RBI
Eric Campbell: 1-for-3, 2 RBI
Omar Quintanilla: 4-for-4, 1 HR, 1 BB, 3 RBI, 2 R
Francisco Pena: 2-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R
D.J. Mitchell: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 ER
Greg Peavey: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 2 K
Armando Rodriguez: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 K
Justin Hampson: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 1 BB, 3 K
Josh Edgin: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 K