Midweek three-game losing streak sets Las Vegas back in Salt Lake

The Las Vegas Aviators were stung by the Salt Lake Bees of the Los Angeles Angels organization this past week.

In six games played, Las Vegas dropped four of those meetings on the road in Utah. There was a three-game losing streak sprinkled in there amidst the lost series.

Back in June, the Aviators swept the Bees in a six-game series from Las Vegas Ballpark.

Despite being the first half champions, Las Vegas is 16-23 in the second half so far. That ranks seventh among the Pacific Coast League standings.

Up next, the team will return home for another six-game series from Las Vegas Ballpark. Upon arrival, the Aviators will be greeted by the Tacoma Rainiers of the Seattle Mariners organization.

That series is set to begin Tuesday, Aug. 12 with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. Currently, Tacoma is 27-12 in the second half good for the top spot in the PCL as it rides a four-game win streak.

Tuesday, W, 8-4

A fourth win in the last five outings for the Aviators came in a series-opening win over the Bees Tuesday night. The victory began to be secured with a five-run fifth inning as pitcher Ken Waldichuk continues to work his way back from Tommy John Surgery.

That five-run fifth inning opened with back-to-back walks before a three-run home run from second baseman Zack Gelof to break a 2-2 tie. Later in the frame, teammate Euribiel Angeles plated two runs on a single with two outs.

Recent call-ups Junior Perez and Henry Bolte had a big hand at the plate in the team’s win. The former launched a solo homer with one out tallied in the top of the second to open the game’s scoring. He has now hit a home run in each of his first two Triple-A games.

Bolte’s 3-for-5 night included a home run of his own, which came in the fourth inning to tie the game at two apiece. That longball marked his first Triple-A big fly of his career. Later in the game, he’d knock in another on an RBI single in the eighth inning.

Waldichuk had a hectic first inning with plenty going on on the basepads. In order, he encountered a walk, strikeout, back-to-back stolen bases, another walk followed by a second strikeout. He’d load the bases with his third first-inning walk before getting out of trouble with his third first-inning strikeout.

Salt Lake didn’t get to the rehabbing left-hander until the third inning via a solo home run with one out, which tied the game at one apiece. In that same inning, the home team would add another run on a two-out RBI single.

Waldichuk gave up those two runs on three hits in three innings of work with five strikeouts and five walks.

With the bullpen taking over being him, the rest of the staff combined to complete the next six innings with two runs allowed on six hits with seven strikeouts to three walks. Reliever David Leal got his first win of the year to move to 1-1 on the year. He was the first pitcher out of the pen and worked a single inning with one hit allowed to go along with a strikeout and two walks.

Wednesday, L, 5-3

Las Vegas suffered its first loss of the week as Salt Lake jumped on pitcher Joey Estes while the offense produced scattered hits but suffered a long scoring drought.

It moved fast in the first inning after the Bees worked a leadoff single, reached on an error before an RBI double plated the home team’s first run of the game. Two more runs would score in the frame on an RBI single and a second RBI double of the first.

In the bottom of the third, it opened with a double which came across to score on an RBI groundout. The big blow of the inning came on a solo home run to push the home team ahead, 5-1.

Estes (3-4) went just 2 ⅓ innings with five runs on eight hits while tallying just a single strikeout.

Second baseman Zack Gelof gave the Aviators the first lead of the game on his RBI double with one out in the top of the first.

The team wouldn’t score again until the sixth inning on a two-run home run by left fielder Nick Martini. That would eventually be the team’s last hit of the game.

In between those scoring innings, Las Vegas had a string of 14 straight batters retired in order with two hits through the first five innings of the game.

In total, the Aviators produced just four hits on the way to six baserunners including a walk and a hit batter. During that time, the team’s bullpen allowed just two hits over 5 ⅔ innings of work with 12 strikeouts recorded and a walk.

Thursday, L, 15-12

Las Vegas lost in a slugfest of a battle Thursday night after watching Salt Lake score the last six runs of the game. That marks the team’s second straight loss of the season.

The high-scoring game saw Salt Lake inch closer to the Las Vegas lead with a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth inning. That set up an RBI single and a balk that drove in another run.

An inning later, the Bees took the lead for good on a two-run double with nobody out. The lead stretched to three runs on a pair of solo home runs, one with a single out recorded and the other with two showing on the board.

Reliever Anthony Maldonado (1-4) suffered another loss while also blowing a potential save, his second of the season. In 1 ⅔ innings, he gave up four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and a walk to show for it. He worked the lead-changing seventh inning.

Catcher Shane McGuire hit his first Triple-A home run of his career in the top of the second to get Las Vegas on the board. He accomplished the milestone in his 14th Triple-A game and his second since this particular call-up.

In that same inning, teammate Junior Perez hit a solo dinger with two out recorded. That counted as his third homer in his first five Triple-A games.

With so many runs to account for second baseman Zack Gelof, third baseman Euribiel Angeles, shortstop Drew Swift all tallied RBIs before through the first four innings of the game. Swift forced a pitching change in the fifth inning with his second RBI single of the night.

Designated hitter Nick Martini had the biggest swing of the fifth frame with a grand slam to put Las Vegas up, 11-5. He has now homered in back-to-back games.

Starting pitcher Aaron Brooks had a rough night and it started early. Salt Lake knocked a two-run homer over the wall in the game’s first inning to take an early lead. The team would homer again in the second, this time for a single run.

For a third straight inning, the Bees tattooed a ball from Brooks, this time a leadoff shot to go up 4-3.

Brooks went 4 ⅓ innings on the mound, coughing up nine runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Friday, L, 10-4

Three straight losses for Las Vegas and now the team needs back-to-back wins this weekend for a series split with Salt Lake. The team fell behind 8-0 and just never could recover as it has now given up 25 runs over the last two games.

The Aviators had a third straight starting pitcher get knocked around, this time it was youngster Kade Morris. It was another fast start for the home team, scoring three early first-inning runs off the 23-year old on a two-run double and an RBI single.

An inning later, Morris gave up two more runs on another RBI single and an RBI double.

Morris pitched five innings with five runs allowed on nine hits to go along with six strikeouts and a walk.

Salt Lake’s three-run home run to take the 8-0 advantage came off reliever David Leal while the team’s final two runs came off fellow reliever Mitch Spence.

It was a slow start in the batter’s box for Las Vegas with just four hits produced through the first six innings pitched. In totality, the team went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and 10 runners left on base.

The Aviators showed late life with a leadoff home run from center fielder Junior Perez in the seventh inning after falling behind 8-0. He has now homered three times this series including back-to-back games and four times in his first six Triple-A games.

In the same inning, left fielder Alejo Lopez drove in another on a one-out RBI single.

Las Vegas’ last runs came in the eighth and ninth innings via an RBI single from shortstop Euribiel Angeles in the former frame and a solo dinger from catcher Daniel Susac in the game’s final frame.

Saturday, W, 3-2

The hopes for a series split this week is still alive after the Aviators ended a three-game losing streak. En route to the victory, starting pitcher Mason Barnett picked up his first win since June 20th while recording nine straight opposing batters at one point.

Barnett gave up a run in the first inning but would settle in not long after that. He would go on to work six innings of two-run (one earned) ball on three hits with nine strikeouts and two walks while improving to 6-2 on the year.

The masterful pitching from Barnett was just enough to get by as the team later had to keep Salt Lake at bay. With reliever Scott McGough on the mound, the home team pumped out three straight one-out singles to climb to within a run of the Las Vegas lead.

Things got really interesting near the end of the game. In the eighth inning, the Bees had runners in scoring position but flew out to end the scoring threat. An inning later, the team couldn’t capitalize on a two-out walk as a groundout ended the game.

The early lead for the Aviators came in the form of back-to-back home runs for center fielder Junior Perez and designated hitter Colby Halter with two outs in the second.

In the seventh inning, third baseman Brett Harris drove in the team’s final run of the game on an RBI single.

Sunday, L, 6-3

Las Vegas lost its series finale against Salt Lake which means its a lost series for the team as pitcher Ken Waldichuk is still winless this season.

In his second start this week, he fell behind early and would end up on the wrong end of a successful outing. By the fourth inning, he’d find himself down 4-0 on the heels of a three-run blast.

Waldichuk would be pulled from the mound after issuing a two-out walk. He fell to 0-5 this season after working 3 ⅔ innings with four runs surrendered on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. He now has an earned run average of 9.72.

The Aviators’ offense had a slow start to things, only tallying its second hit of the game in the fifth inning. In that same frame, however, third baseman Alejo Lopez drove in the team’s first run on an RBI single.

It would prove to be a three-run inning for Las Vegas with a pair of runs scoring on an RBI sacrifice fly from left fielder Cooper Bowman and an RBI double from first baseman Brett Harris.

Salt Lake produced insurance runs in the sixth inning on a two-run double to go back up by three runs.

On the other hand, the Aviators had nine of their last 11 batters retired with zero total hits recorded.