El Paso Chihuahua’s @ Las Vegas 51s
4/21/14
The Highlights:
Pitchers
Socolovich (W, 1-0) – 3 IP, 1 H, 4 K (all swinging)
Black (H, 2) – 1 IP, 2 K (both swinging)
Walters (S, 5) – 1 IP, 1 SO (swinging)
Ambriz – 1 clean
inning pitched against the 1-2-3 hitters
Batters
Puello – 2-4, 3B (1), R
Campbell – 2-4, 2B (6), HR (3), 2 R, 2 RBI (15), GIDP
Teagarden – 1-3, HR (3), R, 2 RBI (6)
Moore – 2-4, 2
2B(3), 2 R, SO
Lane – 2-3, R, SO
(His hitting is still better than his pitching, don’t give up yet Jason!)
Recap:
Wow, what a nice, quick game that
was at just 2 hours and 19 minutes! Not that I mind long or extra inning games,
so long as it’s baseball, but this game had a nice pace to it. Former major league outfielder Jason Lane was on the mound as the starting pitcher for the Chihuahua's against Logan Verrett and the hometown 51's. While not terrible as a pitcher, he looked better as a hitter!
Verrett looked sharp
er earlier, but he still might have
given up runs in ¾ of his innings worked if not for the extra deep dimensions
at Cashman Field holding a
Kyle Blanks 420 foot out. He might not have had any
trouble at all if not for Adam Moore, and to a lesser extent the opposing
pitcher (and former MLB OF) Jason Lane, who combined for half of the hits Logan
allowed. Also, he showed good command throughout his appearance, and still
managed to get swings-and-missed during his ‘rougher’ innings, striking out
5/21 batters faced.
Socolovich
deserved credit for the win with the way he came in and shut down an offense
that had scored in back-to-back innings, and then held the lead for another two
innings. Working with a fastball that touches 90 MPH at its best, a nice change
up and a slider that he appeared ready to throw whenever, Socolovich only
allowed two hard hit balls, and both only found leather waiting for them. The
lone single he gave up came on a well-placed grounder. Against an uninspiring
El Paso lineup, consisting of multiple former MLB players, his fastball was
more than enough on this night.
The
offense came alive in the third after Campbell started things with a big
double, his first hit of the series. A few batters later, with runners on 1
st
and 2
nd,
Seratelli would hit a liner so hard that even after it
deflected off the 3B glove it got past the LF! After whatever mishap the LF
actually had (hard to see with the distant camera used for 51s home games), he
recovered to throw out
Dykstra trying to advance to 3B. Teagarden would follow
with his 3
rd HR of the season, a blast to LF. The 4
th
inning appeared to ready to end quick, but Puello managed a 2 out triple on a
liner over the head of RF
Jeff Francoeur – Puello is really fast, I’m tempted
to make a .gif of this even though it’d just be him running the bases. Campbell
would follow with another 51s blast to LF, giving the 51s a lead they wouldn’t
relinquish.
Vic
Black came on throwing heat in his clean 8
th – reached 96 MPH then
97 MPH on back-to-back swinging strikeouts to start the inning. Then Walters
looked unshaken from his last outing (which ended in a walk-off) as he nailed
down his 5
th save of the season with a strikeout of
Reymond Fuentes
to end a clean 9
th. Las Vegas improved to 14-5 with the win, tied
for the best record in AAA (IL Durham Bulls), 3 games up on the rest of the
PCL, and 3.5 up on the next closest team in their division (the Isotopes).
Dana Eveland gets the start in the rubber game for the 51s on Tuesday against
Matthew Branham on getaway day, so a 3:05 ET start time.
Play-by-Play
1st inning
Top
1)
Verret got ahead of Reymond Fuentes 0-2, threw a
couple of waste pitches in the dirt, missed with a fastball, before getting a
soft grounder to the 2B.
2)
Daniel Robertson hit a high fly ball to LF with
lots of hang time.
3)
Cameron Maybin hit a hard grounder to the left of
Zach Lutz deflected off his glove into LF for an error on Lutz. Lutz would leave after this inning - considering his history, I really hope he is OK.
4)
Kyle Blanks hit a blast to CF that is out in
most other ballparks (433 to CF in Vegas) but instead was caught on the warning
track by
Matt den Dekker, much to the delight of the announcer.
Bottom
1)
Cesar Puello
lines a first-pitch fastball into LF for a single.
2)
Eric Campbell hit a medium grounder right at the
shortstop for an easy double play.
2nd inning
Top
1)
Got a lazy fly ball to CF from Jeff Francoeur.
2)
Struck out Brooks Conrad swinging on a slider.
3)
Struck out Alex Castellanos swinging on another
slider, 0-2 count.
Bottom
1)
Allen Dykstra grounds out to the 1B.
2)
Anthony Seratelli walks.
3)
Taylor Teagarden flies out to deep left-center.
4)
den Dekker hits a medium grounder right at the
2B.
3rd inning
Top
1)
Adam Moore one-hopped the left-center field wall
for a double.
2)
Lane hit a hard grounder to the right of Flores,
which got under the backhand glove attempt and into LF for a single; Moore goes
to 3B.
3)
Fuentes lined an RBI single in front of den
Dekker, Lane to 2B.
4)
Robertson loaded the bases with a line drive to
CF.
5)
Maybin hit a high pop up to the 2B, infield fly
rule in effect.
6)
Blanks lofted a fastball to Puello, deep enough
to not warrant a throw home as Lane tagged from third and scored.
7)
Francoeur got behind 0-2 before lining an RBI
single towards the left field corner.
8)
Conrad strikes out swinging, again :), to end the threat.
Totals: 3 R, 5 H, 1 SO, 2 LOB
Bottom
2)
Verret struck out swinging.
3)
Puello hit a fly ball to the edge of the RF
warning track.
4th inning
Top
1)
Castellanos hit a soft grounder to Flores,
handled easily just past the grass near 2B.
2)
Moore one-hopped the wall down the RF line for a
double.
3)
Lane lined a single into LF, Moore to 3B.
4)
Fuentes struck out swinging on a sinker below
the zone.
5)
Verret left a breaking ball up, and it was lined
into RF for an RBI single for Robertson, Lane to 2B.
6)
On a full count to Maybin, Verret placed a
sinking fastball on the corner for his 5th strikeout.
Totals: 1 R, 3 H, 1 SO, 2 LOB
Bottom
1)
Campbell hooked a double into the LF corner.
2)
Flores popped out near the 3B bag.
3)
Dykstra fouled off a lot of pitches to fight
back in this at-bat from down 1-2 to draw the walk.
4)
Seratelli hit a hard liner off the glove the 3B,
which was then booted by the LF. Campbell was ready to stop at 3B, but turned
it on and scored when he saw the boot. The other runners tried to advance too,
but Dykstra was thrown out at 3B.
5)
Teagarden crushed a 2R HR to left-center field –
he’s been hitting the ball with some authority lately.
6)
den Dekker hit a medium grounder to the SS.
Totals: 3 R, 3 H, 1 HR, 1 BB
5th inning
Top (Miguel
Socolovich pitching now)
1)
Blanks hit a soft liner to Flores.
2)
Francoeur struck out swinging on a 90 MPH
fastball.
3)
Conrad jumped on a first-pitch fastball for a
single up the middle.
4)
Castellanos hit a soft grounder right at
Campbell for the easy play.
Bottom
1)
Muno hit a medium chopper to the 2B.
2)
Socolovich had a long at bat, but eventually hit
a chopper to the shortstop for an easy out.
3)
Puello hit a line drive over the head of Jeff
Francoeur in RF for a triple – man is he fast!
4)
Campbell hit a no-doubter over the tall wall in
LF for a 2R HR.
5)
Flores hit a deep fly ball to left-center field.
Totals: 2 R, 2 H, 1 HR
6th inning
Top
1)
Moore struck out swinging on a very good 3-2
change-up – ‘bottom dropped out of that one’.
2)
Lane struck out swinging on a high fastball
after fouling off a number of pitches.
3)
Fuentes hit a fly ball caught by Seratelli shy
of the LF wall.
Bottom
1)
Dykstra hit a hard grounder at the 2B.
2)
Seratelli hit a looper to RF that Francoeur was
able to charge and slide under for a nice catch near the line – he was playing
him the other way.
3)
Teagarden hit a medium grounder to the SS left
for an easy play.
7th inning
Top
1)
Robertson hit a sharp liner right at Dykstra.
2)
Maybin struck out swinging on some high heat.
3)
Blanks hit a ‘slow squibbler’ up the first base
line that Socolovich tossed to Dykstra to retire the side.
Bottom
1)
den Dekker ‘lined’ a bunt to the 1B.
2)
Muno hit a fly ball out to the LF corner.
3)
Socolovich tapped the first pitch back to the
pitcher.
8th inning
Top (Vic Black
pitching now for Las Vegas)
1)
Francoeur took a called strike, a huge
swing-and-miss, spat on a breaking ball in the dirt, just checked his swing at
the next slider in the dirt, before Black climbed the ladder with a 96 MPH
fastball to get Frenchy swinging.
2)
Conrad fell behind 0-2 before taking a couple of
waste pitches before Vic Black struck him out swinging on a chest high, 97 MPH
fastball.
3)
Castellanos hit a medium grounder near 2B that
Flores cut off and then threw a bullet to 1B to end the inning.
Bottom (Hector
Ambriz pitching now for El Paso)
1)
Puello fell hit a soft grounder to the 3B, who
was able to get Puello at 1B by maybe half of a step.
2)
Campbell worked a full count (and then some)
before grounding out routinely to the SS.
3)
Flores hit a hard one-hopper to the 2B.
9th inning
Top (Jeff Walters
pitching now)
1)
Moore popped out to Muno in the OF grass behind
2B.
2)
With a slight infield shift on, Travis Buck
grounded a soft tapper towards the SS hole that the 3B Campbell charged and
threw on to 1B just in time for the out.
3)
Fuentes got ahead 3-0, but Walters got the count
full before striking him out swinging on a fastball to end the game with a 51s
win!
