Rainiers Outslug The 51s In The Series Finale

Las Vegas 51s @ Tacoma Rainiers

July 3, 2015

Rainy Lara @ Stephen Landazuri

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Las Vegas	0	1	1	2	3	0	0	0	0		7	9	0
Tacoma	0	0	4	3	3	1	1	0	X		12	16	0

W: Luetge (1-2, 6.10 ERA); L: Black (0-2, 15.88 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Rainy Lara (6.75 ERA) – 4 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 3 SO, 2 HR, 61 Pitches (46 Strikes), 4 GO: 2 FO

Vic Black – 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, BB, 2 SO, HR, 1 FO

John Church (3.86 ERA) – 1 IP, H, R, BB, SO, 2 HBP, 2 GO

Jenrry Mejia (3.00 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, R, 3 SO

Chase Huchingson (0.00 ERA) – 1 IP, BB, SO, 1 GO

Batters

Daniel Muno – 1-4, BB, SO

Matt Reynolds – 2-4, 2B (23), 3 RBI (48), BB, SO

Alex Castellanos – 2-4, R, 2B (29), HR (14), RBI (49), HBP, SO

Brandon Allen – 2-4, R, BB

Anthony Recker – 1-5, R, HR (6), 2 RBI (15), 3 SO

Travis Taijeron – 1-2, R, 2B (10), RBI (41), BB, HBP

Recap

            The 51s wasted a good night from their offense in the Tacoma finale, as nobody could shut this Rainiers offense down until Chase Huchingson came on for the 8^th. Starter Rainy Lara allowed just a single over the first 2 innings, but was then tagged for 7 runs on 9 hits (including 2 doubles, a triple, and 2 homeruns), as the Rainiers started pulling away. Las Vegas was able to tie things up momentarily in the 4^th, when Matt Reynolds doubled home 2 runs on a play that ended with Daniel Muno colliding into the catcher at home, and then again in the 5^th on a pair of homeruns, but Lara and Vic Black gave the lead right back both times. After clicking early, the 51s offense suddenly started to struggle against the Tacoma bullpen when they fell behind for a 3^rd straight inning, and the last 10 Las Vegas batters would be retired in a row.

            There were a couple of scary moments in this game: in the 3^rd, Dilson Herrera was HBP near the face/forehead region, but it looked like the helmet took the brunt of the blow, and Dilson would play the rest of the game; in the 4^th, T.J. Rivera was hit in the back of the head, and while he’d stay in to run, he didn’t come out for the bottom half of the inning.

            Check out details and highlights from the offense below. The 51s head home for the 4^th of July weekend to start a series with Albuquerque. Luis Cessa has been promoted to make the start in place of an injured Tyler Pill, with the game scheduled for a 10:05 PM start time.

Scoring Highlights

            After Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off the 2^nd inning with a walk, Alex Castellanos doubled him over to 3B, and then he’d score on a bases loaded HBP of T.J. Rivera.

            Dilson Herrera took a HBP to a scary area leading off the 3^rd inning, but he’d stay in the game and then come around to score on an RBI single from Matt Reynolds.

Matt Reynolds came up with the bases loaded in the 4^th, and he tied the game up with a 2 run double, but Danny Muno was thrown out trying to score on the play, which ended the inning - the first GIF is the Rivera HBP.

            The 51s scored their final 3 runs on 4 straight hits in the 5^th inning: Castellanos homered, Brandon Allen singled, Anthony Recker left the yard, and then Travis Taijeron added his tenth double of the year.