Win in series finale secures road series split in Albuquerque for Aviators

Anything other than a lost series works for the Las Vegas Aviators as the regular season continues to wind down. 

This past week, Las Vegas split six games on the road against Albuquerque of the Colorado Rockies organization. The team needed a win in the series finale to salvage the six-game split.

As a result, the Aviators are now 23-28 in the second half slate of the Minor League Baseball season. That record has the team slotted in the seventh spot in the Pacific Coast League standings.

Currently, the team sits nine games behind Tacoma, who leads all teams in the second half.

Up next, Las Vegas will begin a rare interleague series and this time it will come against the Iowa Cubs of the Chicago Cubs organization. That series is set to begin Tuesday, Aug. 26 with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. from Las Vegas Ballpark.

Tuesday, L, 9-3

Las Vegas dropped its series opener in Albuquerque after entering the week winners of three of their last four. In addition, the team had won the last two series openers.

The Isotopes scored the last six runs of the game to break a 3-3 tie. In the seventh inning, a wild pitch initially broke the tie while a grand slam two at-bats later broke the game wide open.

Albuquerque added another run on a leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth.

Earlier in the game, the Aviators had their own fair share of longballs beginning with a solo home run from shortstop Jacob Wilson to open the scoring on the night. That would be matched by the first leadoff homer of the night by the home team.

Three batters after that initial Albuquerque run, the team cranked another moonshot, this time for two runs. Catcher Daniel Susac made up the difference with a two-run double in the top of the seventh to tie the game at three apiece.

Pitcher Mitch Spence made the start but wouldn’t make it through four innings as he went 3 ⅔ innings with three runs allowed on six hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Reliever Jared Shuster (0-1) was saddled with the loss after allowing four runs on a single hit in ⅔ of an inning with a strikeout and three walks.

Shuster and fellow reliever Anthony Maldonado both combined to go two full innings with six runs allowed on four hits to go along with three strikeouts and four walks.

Wednesday, W, 9-3

Direct opposite result from the night before as the Aviators earned its first win of this series behind a five-run fourth inning and a starting pitcher who relied on his defense early and often.

That pitcher was right-hander Kade Morris, who got out of a two-on, one out situation in the first inning by inducing a double play. He forced another inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the third inning. In total, Albuquerque was forced into three double plays on the night.

Morris didn’t get his first 1-2-3 inning until the fourth before giving up his first run of the game in the sixth after back-to-back doubles. He’d be pulled from the mound with the bases loaded in the seventh.

En route to the win, Morris (4-6) pitched 6 ⅓ innings with three runs allowed on eight hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Those additional two runs were scored on a fielder’s choice out and a wild pitch.

There wasn’t much for Morris to worry about in the middle innings after his offense netted him a 5-0 lead behind a five-run fourth inning.

Left fielder Cooper Bowman and third baseman Drew Swift drove in runs on back-to-back RBI singles to open the scoring. Designated hitter Nick Martini plated two of his own on a two-run single.

Bowman would later flex his muscle with a solo home run with two outs recorded in the ninth. That was the lone homer in the game after five in the series opener on Tuesday.

Catcher Shane McGuire knocked in the last run of the frame on a two-out RBI single to push the advantage to 5-0. He showed up again in the eighth inning with an RBI double to push the lead back to five runs yet again.

McGuire went 3-for-5 with two singles, a double, two RBI and a strikeout.

Thursday, W, 11-10

Las Vegas survived a scare that would’ve seen the team put forth a huge collapse after working so hard to build a large lead. Its offense jumped out to a fast start to the tune of, 10-1, despite a weather delay to open the game.

After losing that big lead, the Aviators needed a game-winning RBI from center fielder Junior Perez on a double following a two-out walk to first baseman Shane McGuire in the top of the seventh inning.

McGuire had the first loud swing of the night on a first inning-grand slam to put Las Vegas ahead, 4-0. In this series, he has gone 5-for-10 with two singles, two doubles, a home run, seven RBI, two runs scored, three strikeouts and a walk.

Left fielder Cooper Bowman homered for a second straight game with his two-run shot in the third inning. From there, the early rout was on.

Designated hitter Nick Martini and right fielder Alejo Lopez drove in runs on an RBI double and RBI sacrifice fly respectively in the same frame. Two innings later, the Aviators added runs on an error and an RBI single by midseason addition Bryan Lavastida.

After the top of the fifth, it was nearly all Isotopes. It started with a one-out solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. Soon after, the home team would add four more runs on a two-run triple, RBI double and RBI single.

That offensive performance nullified the start of pitcher Mason Barnett who went five innings with six runs surrendered on eight hits to go along with three strikeouts and two walks.

With Barnett off the bump, Albuquerque tied the game at 10 apiece in the sixth inning on a its second two-run triple of the game, an RBI groundout and a solo homer.

Reliever Jack Cushing (10-1) survived the wild slugfest with two strikeouts and a walk recorded in a scoreless inning on the mound. Fellow reliever Anthony Maldonado also recorded his ninth save of the season in the win.

Friday, L, 8-7

Both Las Vegas and Albuquerque have split the first four games of a scheduled six games this week after the latter kept the former from winning a third straight contest. In this one, the Aviators lost another lead, this time a 6-0 lead.

Two runs scored in the game’s opening frame on fielder’s choice outs. One of which came off the bat of catcher Daniel Susac, who would later homer in the game.

Shortstop Alejo Lopez hit the first home run of the game with one-on and two out in the second inning for a 4-0 start. That lead would be pushed to six on two more third inning home runs from center fielder Junior Perez and right fielder Henry Bolte.

That 6-0 lead was lost in three innings with Albuquerque hopping on the comeback trail with a two-run dinger in the bottom of the third. An inning later, the home team added another blast but this time for three runs.

Starting pitcher Ken Wadlichuk was hit for five runs on seven hits in 3 ⅓ innings of work with five strikeouts and three walks.

Reliever Michel Otanez (1-2) was given the loss despite tallying a hold along the way. That came after giving up three runs without giving up a single hit in ⅔ of an inning with three walks issued to just one strikeout.

Fellow reliever Jared Shuster also was given his first blown save with the Aviators.

The Las Vegas offense produced baserunners in the fifth, sixth, seven and eighth innings with multiple runners reaching in several innings. En route to the loss, the team went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position while leaving nine runners on base.

Saturday, L, 10-6

A second straight loss means the Aviators will need a win in the Sunday series finale in order to salvage a split with the Isotopes this week. This most recent loss saw the third lost lead of the series for Las Vegas.

Albuquerque scored its first run of the game with two outs recorded in the bottom of the third inning to cut into an original, 3-0, deficit. While a run scored on an error in the next frame, immediately following that the Isotopes took its first lead of the game on a two-run home run.

First baseman Shane McGuire tied the game at four apiece with an RBI single in the top of the fifth inning. This week, he has gone 7-for-18 with four singles, two doubles, a homer, eight RBI, two runs scored, six strikeouts and two walks.

The Isotopes took its second lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run single for the second lead change of the game in as many innings.

Things really began to spiral out of control on an RBI hit-by-pitch in the sixth inning and back-to-back run-producing hits in the eight. By that point, Las Vegas found itself on the wrong end of a 10-4 scoreboard.

Starting pitcher Aaron Brooks (2-3) was saddled with six runs allowed but only one was earned during his 4 ⅓ innings on the mound with six hits surrendered to go along with a strikeout and two walks. Only one of those runs were charged to him after two Aviator errors.

Right-hander Carlos Duran relieved Brooks and would cough up two more runs on three hits in 1 ⅓ of an inning with three walks issued. Later in the game, fellow reliever Blake Beers gave up two additional runs on two hits in the same amount of time on the mound with one strikeout tallied versus two walks.

Las Vegas’ early lead was built on a two-run home run in the first inning by second baseman Zack Gelof and an RBI single by right fielder Henry Bolte in the second.

Additionally, shortstop Euribiel Angeles and third baseman Alejo Lopez each added an RBI single of their own in the ninth inning as part of chipping away at the big Albuquerque lead.

Sunday, W, 3-2 F/10 innings

It will be a split road series for the Aviators after securing a win in the series finale Sunday against the Isotopes. The win served as the third one-run decision of the week for the team and the eighth of the month.

Left fielder Cooper Bowman led off the 10th inning with a single and a stolen base while first baseman-turned-second baseman Colby Halter drove in the game-winning run on an RBI sacrifice fly with designated hitter Nick Martini serving as the inning’s ghost runner.

Halter, Martini and second baseman Zack Gelof all recorded RBI in the win.

Starter Mitch Spence sparkled in his time on the mound after retiring the first five batters he faced. He would rack up two 1-2-3 innings by the fifth frame.

Spence pitched 5 ⅔ beautiful innings of one-hit ball with five strikeouts recorded versus three walks.

Las Vegas’ bullpen barely got by from that point on beginning with left-hander Brady Basso giving up the game’s first run on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the seventh.

In the bottom of the ninth, Albuquerque smacked a leadoff homer with relief pitcher Scott McGough on the bump in his second inning of work. Despite the highlight, McGough moved to 5-0 on the year despite suffering his first blown save.

Righty reliever Anthony Maldonado earned his 10th save of the season after getting out of the contest by working the home half of the 10th. He walked the first batter but got out of danger with a double play and an additional groundout.