Duane Below Throws PCL CG on Less Than 100 Pitches, Again

Colorado Springs Sky Sox @ Las Vegas 51s

May 25, 2015

Josh Roendicke @ Duane Below

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Colorado	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0		2	7	1
Las Vegas	0	0	2	1	2	0	2	2	X		9	12	1

W: Below (4-2, 2.18 ERA); L: Roenicke (2-1, 5.12 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Duane Below – 9 IP, 7 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 SO, 97 Pitches (72 Strikes), 15 GO: 6 FO

Batters

Matt Reynolds – 3-5, 2 R, 2 2B (16)

T.J. Rivera – 2-4, 2 R, 2B (2), 2 RBI (4), HBP, SO

Brooks Conrad – 2-4, 3 R, BB, SO

Johnny Monell – 2-3, 2B (3), 4 RBI (19), SO

Alex Castellanos – 1-3, 2B (12), 2 RBI (31), 2 SO

Brandon Allen – 2-3, R, HR (5), RBI (21), BB

Recap

            Duane Below threw his second straight PCL complete game Monday night, as the 51s won the first of four against the Sky Sox. Below has allowed only 11 hits and one walk over his last 18 innings (aka, his last two starts), but he only has a pair of strikeouts in each outing, relying instead on his defense converting outs and weak contact. The 51s offense was relatively quiet against Oklahoma City over the weekend, but broke out for 9 runs on a dozen hits, led by their middle infield duo at the top of the lineup. In typical 51s fashion, once they started scoring, they just kept adding until the game was over.

            Below retired the first 6 he faced, but then found himself in trouble after the first two reached in the 3^rd inning (single, E6). He’d limit the damage to one run, but found himself behind 1-0. After Chris Nelson reached on the error, Below would retire the next 9 batters in a row.

The Sky Sox lead wouldn’t last long though, as the 51s combined for three straight two out hits in the bottom of the 3^rd, capped off by Johnny Monell’s two run double. Brandon Allen extended the lead in the 4^th with a leadoff homerun, his fifth bomb of the year. Matt Reynolds got a 5^th inning rally started with his first double of the game, and Alex Castellanos capped it off with his 12^th double of the year, which made it a 5-1 game.

Colorado tried to mount a comeback in the 6^th, getting back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Below would induce a double play grounder from the next batter, but couldn’t escape the inning unscathed, allowing two more two outs ingles for a run. He’d allow only two more singles the rest of the way, needing less than 100 pitches for his second straight complete game.

The 51s continue their series with Colorado Springs Tuesday night at 10:05 PM, with Steven Matz scheduled to pitch for Las Vegas.

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