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While the week began with so much hope, it ended with a season-ending walk-off win to send the Las Vegas Aviators and their fans into the offseason with high hopes.
Las Vegas won just a single game in its final six-game series of the regular season. The team dropped the first five games of the set to El Paso of the San Diego organization.
Despite the five losses, the Aviators lost leads in four of those games.
Reno needed two wins coupled with two losses by its intra-state rivals in order to secure the final playoff spot in the Pacific Coast League. The playoff field was set by Wednesday night.
Las Vegas went into the final week of both halves of the minor league season in contention for the playoffs. However, the team ends the season 74-75 with a 37-37 mark in the second half.
Tuesday, L, 7-5 F/10
Reno took care of business to move closer to the postseason plus Las Vegas dropped its series opener against El Paso. That shaves the Aces’ magic number in half from four games down to two.
Though it resulted in a loss, the Aviators led 5-2 but would endure five unanswered runs by the Chihuahuas as they picked up their sixth straight win. The game needed an extra inning to decide a winner.
Things began to avalanche after a leadoff single and walk marked the start of the seventh inning. An RBI single would cut the 5-2 lead down to two. Another run would score off a hit that ricocheted off reliever Pedro Santos.
On the first pitch of the eighth inning, El Paso tied the game at five on a leadoff homer.
In the 10th inning, the Chihuahuas took a 6-5 lead on an RBI sacrifice fly for their fourth straight run. The fifth straight came on an RBI single soon after.
Pitcher Joe Boyle was the scheduled starter but would not take the mound in favor of normal reliever Austin Pruitt.
At a time when it really couldn’t afford it, Las Vegas had 16 of its final 17 batters in regulation play retired as the offense went cold. During a mid-game stretch, the club went more than three innings without a hit.
The Aviators got help from their opponent in order to take their early 5-2 lead. Three walks loaded the bases in the first inning before center fielder Logan Davidson drove in two.
WIth a 3-2 lead, designated hitter Yohel Pozo hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs recorded, left fielder CJ Alexander would plate another.
Shortstop Darell Hernaiz had his eight-game win streak snapped during his 0-for-5 night.
Wednesday, L, 7-6 F/11
There will be no postseason berth for Las Vegas this season after a second straight extra inning loss to El Paso. Reno beat Albuquerque to clinch the second and final Pacific Coast League playoff spot.
Another collapse happened right before manager Fran Riordan and company’s eyes as the team lost another three-run lead.
The Chihuahuas hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to climb within a run of tying the game at five. They’d successfully tie the game in the ninth inning with a one-out solo shot.
An inning later, El Paso took its first lead since the fourth inning on an RBI single. It’d need to do it again in the 11th inning to seal the win for good.
Free passes hurt Las Vegas more than anything in its season-defining loss. Starter Joe Boyle coughed up back-to-back one out walks in the first inning, allowing the visiting Chihuahuas to take a 1-0 lead on an RBI single.
After three innings on the mound, El Paso had seven total base runners but only three hits in the hit column. Boyle walked four batters in total with at least one in every inning of work.
The first 1-2-3 inning for the Las Vegas defense didn’t come until the sixth inning. Reliever Wander Guante (1-1) received his first loss of the season.
Catcher Yohel Pozo had a big day, going 3-for-5 with two singles, a triple, an RBI, a run scored and a strikeout.
In the loss, the Aviators had eight of the 11 leadoff men it sent up reach base. However, only two of the eight would come around to score as the team went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position.
In total, 13 men were left on base.
Thursday, L, 5-4 F/10
Las Vegas is simply playing for pride over these last few games of the regular season. Even with that, the team can’t seem to figure out El Paso as it dropped a third straight game to its opponent.
All three games in this series has gone to extra innings. In heartbreaking fashion, the Aviators lost yet another three-run lead in this one-run loss.
Right fielder Colby Thomas got things going with a two-run moonshot with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to open the day’s scoring. Teammate Carlos Perez would put on an encore performance with one of his own in the eighth inning to give the home team a 4-1 lead.
It would be short-lived as the Chihuahuas tied the game in the top of the ninth. Thriving on the road, they blasted a two-run shot of their own before a wild pitch led to the fourth run.
Reliever Zach Jackson would be on the mound when El Paso took its first lead of the game. The change came on an RBI sacrifice fly. He’d eventually get the loss to drop to 5-6 this season. That marked his first loss since Aug. 20.
Starter Janson Junk didn’t allow a hit until the third inning but would get around the leadoff double with a fly out and back-to-back groundouts. The Chihuahuas’ only real success with him on the mound was a leadoff home run in the fifth inning.
Junk worked six innings with that one run allowed on five hits to go along with six strikeouts in his second appearance with Las Vegas. In those two outings, he pitche 10.1 innings, giving up four runs on 13 hits with nine strikeouts for a 3.48 earned run average.
Friday, L, 11-4
Three straight losses turned into four after another dropped contest for the Aviators from Las Vegas Ballpark. WIth many fresh faces to go around, the team went through a crucial cold stretch resulting in the series loss.
Pitcher Kade Morris made his first start of the season in his second appearance with the club. El Paso would score in the first inning against the 22-year old. The 1-0 hole was made even larger with a two-run double with two outs.
In the third inning, Morris would yield two homers in a four-batter span. It was a solo dinger and then a three-run shot three at-bats later. By then, it was 7-2 in favor of the Chihuahuas with four of their seven runs coming with two outs.
Morris earned the first decision of his Triple-A career in a losing effort. He gave up seven runs on eight hits in 2.2 innings with no strikeouts recorded against two walks. He made the start after not having logged any Double-A innings. Moreover, he had gone 4-12 in Single-A and A+ ball.
No Aviator pitcher used Friday night was older than 25 years of age.
The pitching duo of Mitch Myers and Jake Pfennings were roughed up to the tune of four runs on six hits in 4 ⅓ innings on the mound in relief. Pitcher Corey Avant was the final guy out of the bullpen and he’d pitch a perfect two innings with four strikeouts.
Las Vegas’ four pitchers that played entered the day with 15 total appearances, five by the first three guys used.
While the offense was scarce, left fielder Hoy Park and shortstop Joshua Kuroda-Grauer hit back-to-back RBI singles to get the home team on the board in the second inning.
Thirteen straight outs ensued from there with the team tallying its first hit since the aforementioned second inning. The remaining two RBI-producing hits came off the bats of second baseman Brett Harris and designated hitter Carlos Perez.
Saturday, L, 6-5
Las Vegas is still looking for its first win of its final regular season series against El Paso, losing a fifth straight game at home. Of the five losses, three have been one-run losses while one of the remaining two was a two-run loss.
It’s the first five-game losing streak of the season for the club.
Starter Robert Dugger gave the team a perfect pitching start with three straight 1-2-3 innings in the first four frames. The lone baserunner for the Chihuahuas was a two-out walk in the first.
El Paso’s first hit of the game came in the fifth inning in the form of a one-out solo home run after 11 straight batters had been retired. Not long after, the game would be tied at three on an RBI double and RBI single before the final out could be recorded.
After leading 3-0, Las Vegas lost its fourth lead in the first five games of this series. Dugger got the loss after pitching 5.2 innings with six runs allowed on seven hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
The final runs scored against Dugger came in the sixth inning with him removed from the game.
All the scoring for the Aviators happened in sporadic fashion. Shortstop Darell Hernaiz was perfect his first two times up at-bat with a single and a walk. Everyone else behind him was a combined 0-for-9 with two strikeouts.
Third baseman Brett Harris netted his team the 3-0 lead with a three-run dinger in the fourth inning. He has four RBI in the last two games.
Las Vegas simply couldn’t get runners across home plate. It went a putrid 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Through the first five games of the series, the team is 11-for-66 with runners in scoring position.
Sunday, W, 6-5
A walk-off win in the regular season finale will send Las Vegas into the offseason with positive thoughts following a 6-5 win over El Paso. It was the team’s lone win of the six-game series against the San Diego Triple-A club.
After blowing a lead in four of the first five games played, the Aviators staged a comeback of their own in order to preserve the win. It needed a little help in order to make it happen.
Las Vegas had its half of the ninth inning open with a hit-by-pitch and back-to-back singles to load the bases. Runs would cross on an RBI sacrifice fly, which served as the first out and an RBI single following a walk.
Third baseman Armando Alvarez played hero as he sent the fans home happy with his RBI single. He went 6-for-22 to end the minor league regular season after returning from the Athletics.
Proven by the finish, the game was a back-and-forth affair with both teams swapping a solo homer in each half of the first inning. First baseman CJ Alexander was responsible for LV’s blast.
Alexander went 3-for-5 with two singles, that homer, two RBI, a run scored and two strikeouts.
Las Vegas was given its first lead of the game on an RBI sacrifice fly from designated hitter Carlos Perez. Teammate Yohel Pozo would add another run on an RBI double right after.
Not going away easily, El Paso knotted the game at three with another home run, this time a two-run shot in the fourth. The lead temporarily evaporated when the team was burned by a leadoff homer by its opponent off reliever Wander Guante to take a 4-3 advantage.
Fellow reliever Jack O’Loughlin would run into some trouble as well but would eventually get the win to move to 3-5 on the year. In his lone inning of work, he gave up a run on two hits with a strikeout.
Pitcher Jake Varland made his Triple-A debut and would leave with the no-decision.
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