Lugo Returns To Form Against Sacramento

Sacramento River Cats @ Las Vegas 51s

April 14, 2016

Chris Stratton @ Seth Lugo

Teams	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Sacramento	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0		2	12	0
Las Vegas	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	X		6	10	0

W: Lugo (1-1, 5.40 ERA); L: Stratton (0-2, 9.82 ERA)

MiLB.com Boxscore

The Highlights:

Pitchers

Seth Lugo – 6 IP, 7 H, R, 6 K, HR, 93 Pitches (63 Strikes), 7 GO: 3 FO

Jeff Walters (4.15 ERA) – 1 IP, 3 H, R, 1 GO: 1 FO

Chase Bradford (1.80 ERA) – 2 IP, 2 H, K, 3 GO: 2 FO

Batters

CF – Roger Bernadina – 1-3, 2B (2), 2 RBI (3), SF

SS – Gavin Cecchini – 2-3, 2 RBI (3), BB

C – Johnny Monell – 1-4, 2 SO

RF – Travis Taijeron – 1-4, R, 2B (2), 3 SO

1B – Eric Campbell – 2-4, 2 R, SO

2B – T.J. Rivera – 2-4, 2 R, RBI (5)

SP – Seth Lugo – 1-2, SO

Recap

            Seth Lugo bounced back from a forgettable first start to help the Las Vegas 51s finish their first home stand at .500 and earn a series split with the Sacramento River Cats. Just like in their previous 5 games this season, the 51s opponent would score first when Hak-Ju Lee hit a solo blast leading off the 5^th inning. Las Vegas would charge back with 6 runs over the next two frames to take a 6-1 lead, giving the pen a nice, comfortable lead to protect. Cats starter Chris Stratton had been in control over the first 4 innings Thursday night, but he really struggled trying to get through the lineup a third time, and ended up digging his team into a hole too big to climb out of. Las Vegas reliever Chase Bradford would come on for the final two frames, and he shut Sacramento down to complete the win.

            Lugo allowed a few hard hit balls, but was only burned by the homerun because 5 of the other 6 hits he allowed came with two outs. Sacramento managed a pair of two out singles off Lugo in the 1^st, but then Jarrett Parker hit a groundout to end the frame. Lugo’s streak of 6 straight set down was broken by a pair of two out hits in the 3^rd, but his defense kept Sacramento off the board in that frame. Ramiro Pena doubled sharply to RF with two outs, and Ryan Lollis followed with a single to Ty Kelly in LF. Pena would try to score on the hit, but Kelly fielded the ball in shallow LF, and his throw home was on target and strong. Give an assist to catcher Johnny Monell, who did a great job handling the throw and applying the tag on Pena to end the inning. Lee’s homerun led off the 5^th, but Pena would pick up another two out hit in the frame. Lugo responded by retiring Lollis for the first time, which had to be a minor personal victory (Lollis had been 2-2 to that point). Aside from the homerun and double, the third hard hit ball off Lugo came with one out in the 4^th. Jarrett Parker lined one to the RF wall, but Travis Taijeron played the deflection perfect, which held Parker to a single – Taijeron would do that again later in the game. After batting during the 51s 5^th inning rally and being handed his first lead of the season, Seth Lugo went out for the 6^th and threw his best inning of the year. He’d strike out Olivo and Parker before inducing a groundout to 3B.

            Eric Campbell returning to the Las Vegas lineup is always welcomed by 51s pitchers because he does great in the PCL. He’d spark the 5^th inning rally with a leadoff single smacked back up the middle. T.J. Rivera followed with a well-struck single of his own, and then Ty Kelly worked out a walk to load the bases. I was surprised Lugo was allowed to bat in this spot, but he’d go down swinging, which didn’t hurt the situation too much. Roger Bernadina followed with a sac fly to LF that tied the game up at 1, but was still the second out of the inning. Gavin Cecchini then came through with the biggest hit of the night, bringing home the next two runs with a single hit back up the middle.

             The offense picked right back up in the 6^th inning, with a Travis Taijeron double to deep CF starting the next Las Vegas rally. Soup and T.J. would follow with consecutive singles for a second straight inning, which finally knocked the River Cats starter out of the game. Dilson Herrera, who has resumed throwing and could return this weekend, would pick up an RBI groundout to bring home Soup in the frame. Bernadina capped the 51s scoring for the night when he brought T.J. home with a long double to CF.

            The 51s start their first road trip Friday when they bus on over to Fresno. Andrew Barbosa is scheduled to make his AAA debut in a spot start for Las Vegas, with a scheduled 10:35 PM ET start time. I was trying to wait for the archive to come up so I could make a best attempt pitch log for Lugo, but it wasn't up by 3:45 PM the next day, so I’ll have to come back to it if I have time.

Pitcher Coverage

Table 1 – Lugo pitch stats by inning

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Total
Total	23	10	18	11	20	11	93
Strikes	14	8	11	7	14	9	63
Swinging*	1	1	2	2	0	3	9

*9.7% Swinging strike rate

First pitch strike to 12/24 batters faced (50%)

Hiding in the night sky - UGC 477, 110 million light-years away, in Pisces | @HUBBLE_space https://t.co/1gCpXRHQEm pic.twitter.com/a2ItsFuW5p

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