51s Beat the Aces 6-4 as Brown and Muno Go Yard

Reno Aces @ Las Vegas 51s

June 2, 2014

Andrew Chafin @ Logan Verrett

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E	LOB
Reno	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0		4	10	0	9
Las Vegas	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	X		6	9	0	6

Win: Verrett (4-2, 4.97 ERA) Loss: Chafin (1-1, 4.60 ERA) Save: Socolovich (1)

MiLB.com boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Logan Verrett – 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 SO, 87 pitches, 54 strikes, 23 batters faced, 6 groundouts, 3 fly outs, (2-3, RBI, SO)

Zack Thornton – 1.2 IP, 2 H, R, BB, 2 SO, 37 pitches, 23 strikes, 8 batters faced, 2 groundouts, 1 fly out

Batters

Andrew Brown – 2-3, R, HR (13), 2 RBI (31), BB, SO

Brandon Allen – 2-4, 2 R, SO

Daniel Muno – 2-4, 2 R, HR (5), 2 RBI (21)

Nick Ahmed – 2-5, R, 3B (1), RBI (21)

Roger Kieschnick – 2-4, R, 2B (12), BB

Alfredo Marte – 2-4, RBI (14), BB, 2 SO

Danny Dorn – 2-3, BB, SB (1), SO

Astro’s Play By Play

Recap:

            The Las Vegas 51s broke a two game losing streak Monday night behind two homeruns and an effective outing from Logan Verrett and the bullpen. Verrett did what he’s done most of the season – he gave the 51s a chance to win and took it into the 6^th. He was unable to finish the 6^th inning, but was bailed out when Zack Thornton came into a tough spot and struck out both batters he faced to get out of the inning. Miguel Socolovich would relieve Thornton for the last two innings and his first save of the season. After a short outing from starter Andrew Chafin and a rough inning for reliever Mark Serrano, the Aces bullpen would combine to set the 51s in order in the 6^th-8^th innings.

            Andrew Brown got things started in the 1^st inning, as he launched a bomb to LF only a few minutes after Wilmer Flores hit his big HR in Philly last night. Verrett gave up a few hard hit balls in the 2^nd, but only one run off one hit and a walk. The hit bounced off the wall but was played perfectly by Andrew Brown in RF, holding Danny Dorn to a single. Brown would ‘misplay’ two fly balls later in the game that allowed the runners to advance an extra base. Brown thought he could get to both of those fly balls in the air, but they would bounce off the wall just out of his reach and deflect towards the infield. He has generally been a pretty strong OF for the 51s, especially with regards to playing balls of the wall, so it was odd that he would make that mistake twice.

            The Aces would add another run in the 3^rd, with Nick Ahmed providing a one-out triple and scoring on an RBI single off the bat of Alfredo Marte. The 51s broke the 2-2 tie in the 4^th with two runs on four singles. They had a chance for more, but the Aces walked Brown to load the bases and Chafin got Kirk swinging at a fastball near the bottom of the zone to end the inning. Danny Muno would give the 51s the space they needed with a two-run bomb to RF in the 5^th. It was an odd inning, as reliever Mark Serrano looked good getting Zach Lutz and Taylor Teagarden swinging to start the inning, but then gave up a single and homerun in quick order, before getting Verrett swinging to strikeout the side.

            For Verrett, it was another start where things were coasting until they were falling apart and he had to be removed from the game in the 6^th. He’s prone to giving up hard contact at any point in the game, but has been very effective through the first 4 IP this season, and very ineffective after that:

Innings 1-4	48 IP	2.44 ERA	50 H	7 BB	30 SO
After	19 IP	11.37 ERA	42 H	4 BB	16 SO

            It’s too early to decisively that Verrett won’t be able to adjust to pitching late in games – he has made it past the 6^th inning this season multiple times – but if he can’t, he should be given a real opportunity as a long man or reliever. He doesn’t have the traditional power/strikeout stuff coming out of the pen, but he hasn’t needed that profile to be successful as a starter for the first four innings of his games in Vegas. Also, while neither split is great, lefties had a .791 OPS against Verrett entering last night’s start whereas righties were at .801 OPS – he actually has a higher K-rate against lefties early on too.

            There was an odd defensive switch in the 9^th, as Wally moved Brandon Allen to LF for Cesar Puello to get Omar Quintanilla in at SS. Q could have replaced Allen, Satin or Muno, but Wally chose to put him in for Puello and move Allen to LF – why? Allen has looked pretty poor in the OF and Puello is a good defensive OF from what I can tell. Broadcaster Russ Langer could only conclude that this was what manager Wally Backman thinks is his best defensive alignment.

            Looking ahead, the 51s will be sending Rafael Montero out to pitch on short rest Tuesday night, after having thrown 80 pitches Friday night for the Mets. I wouldn’t expect a long outing from him, and I imagine Joel Carreno will be on call for multiple innings out of the pen, as this would have been his turn in the rotation. The Aces counter with Bo Schultz, who is coming off two effective starts in a row. Shultz has had a few rough outings this season, including allowing 5 R (4 ER) to the 51s on April 17^th in his second start of the season. Game time is scheduled for 10:05 PM ET and will be available, as always, on MiLB.tv.

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