Early Struggles From Bowman Sinks Las Vegas

Las Vegas 51s @ Round Rock Express

August 29, 2015

Matthew Bowman @ Chi Chi Gonzalez

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

W: Gonzalez (7-7, 3.67 ERA); L: Bowman (7-16, 5.43 ERA); Save: Scheppers (2, 0.75 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Matthew Bowman – 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 BB, HR, 96 Pitches (60 Strikes), 11 GO: 6 FO

Zack Thornton (3.61 ERA) – 1 IP, H, SO, 1 GO

John Church (4.09 ERA) – 0.2 IP, H, SO, 1 GO

Dario Alvarez (0.90 ERA) – 0.1 IP, 1 IR – 0 S

Chi Chi Gonzalez – 6 IP, 5 H, R (0 ER), 2 BB, 3 SO, 96 Pitches (58 Strikes), 9 GO: 3 FO

Will Lamb (H, 4, 5.96 ERA) – 1 IP, SO, 1 GO: 1 FO

Ross Ohlendorf (H, 5, 4.17 ERA) – 1 IP, BB, 2 SO, 1 GO

Tanner Scheppers (S, 2, 0.75 ERA) – 1 IP, 2 H, 2 GO

Batters

Eric Young – 1-2, 2 BB, SB (3), CS

Dilson Herrera – 1-3, SAC, SO

Eric Campbell – 1-4, 2 SO

Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 2-3, R, BB

Brandon Nimmo – 2-3, SO, 2 CS

Drew Stubbs – 1-3, 2B (5), 2 BB, SB (9)

Nomar Mazara – 1-4, 2 RBI (10), BB

Ed Lucas – 2-4, R

Joey Gallo – 2-4, R, HR (14), 2 RBI (32)

Ryan Rua – 2-4, R

Carlos Corporan – 1-4

Beamer Weems – 1-4, R, SO

Recap

            Las Vegas fell to Round Rock by a score of 4-1 for a second straight night, but maintained their 2.5 game lead over El Paso because they lost as well. 51s starter Matthew Bowman would allow a two out rally in the 2^nd and then a two run bomb to Joey Gallo in the 3^rd inning, and that was more than enough for Round Rock starter Chi Chi Gonzalez and company. After a great run to finish the 2014 season with Las Vegas, Bowman has put together a forgettable 2015, and you can’t just blame his struggles on the high offense environments in the PCL, he’s just been bad.

Bowman still left Las Vegas in a good position to win, and then Zack Thornton, John Church, and Dario Alvarez combined for 2 innings of scoreless relief behind him, but the 51s base runners kept running into outs. They went 1-4 on stolen base attempts, which stunted a few rallies before they had a chance to start. Overall, It was not a good effort for Las Vegas, who lost Darrell Ceciliani, who has been one of their hottest hitters to the DL Saturday, after he appeared to pull a hammy Friday night. Just like the B-Mets, the Las Vegas offense has been all in or bust lately instead of consistently putting up the 5-6 runs they need to go on a winning streak – they have a scoring average of 5.33 runs/game, but have lost 6 games during which their pitching has allowed 4 R or less since 8/13.

This series wraps up Sunday evening at 7:05 PM, with Dillon Gee (7-3, 5.02 ERA) scheduled to face off with Anthony Ranaudo (7-5, 4.42 ERA), and Las Vegas looking to snap a 2-game skid.

Scoring Highlights

            Round Rock jumped out to a 2-0 lead on 3 singles and a walk in the 2^nd inning. Ryan Rua and Beamer Weems both singled to RF, and then Nomar Mazara came through with a two out, two run single to LF – he’s killed the 51s this series.

            In the 3^rd, Ed Lucas lined a one out single to LF, and then Joey Gallo doubled the Express lead with his 14^th jack of the year.

            Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a one out single in the 4^th, moved to 3B on a groundout, and then scored on a wild pitch to get Las Vegas on the board.

            Brandon Nimmo picked up a pair of hits batting 9^th in this game, but he was caught stealing 2B both times. Dilson Herrera added a hit and was credited for a sac bunt in the 1^st inning, although he was bunting for a hit on the play.

Defensive Highlights

            Matt Bowman made the defensive play of the night on a comebacker in the 1^st inning.

            Brandon Nimmo picked off this liner from Joey Gallo in the 7^th inning.

Pitcher Coverage

Matthew Bowman

Table 1 – Bowman pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Total
Total	18	23	17	13	10	15	96
Strikes	8	14	12	11	8	7	60
Swinging*	0	1	2	1	0	0	4

*4.2% Swinging strike rate

Lunch with the Stars! Arp 147: Giant Ring of Black Holes, for lunch time reading: http://t.co/mupI1WHZvr pic.twitter.com/3JMjSIML3g

— Chandra Observatory (@chandraxray) August 28, 2015