Aviators’ third 5-win series of season sets up interesting final week

The final road trip of the regular season treated the Las Vegas Aviators well as the team came away with five wins in six tries against the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Colorado Rockies organization this past week.

It’s the third five-win series for Las Vegas this season.

With that, the team is 36-32 on the year with a slim chance to be the second half of the Pacific Coast League playoff picture. As of now, the Aviators are three games behind the top spot which is currently occupied by the Reno Aces of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

Needing some help, Las Vegas will turn its attention to the final regular season series of the season which will take place at home for the playoff hopefuls. The Aviators will host the El Paso Chihuahuas of the San Diego Padres from Las Vegas Ballpark.

That series is set to begin Tuesday, Sept. 17 from the valley.

Tuesday, W, 10-2

The losing streak is snapped at two as the Aviators have picked up their fifth win in the last seven games following a 10-2 win over the Isotopes.

Seven runs in two innings really spelled doom for Albuquerque as Las Vegas needed a jumpstart to get things rolling. With a slim 3-2 lead, the Aviators were able to squeeze out back-to-back walks to start the sixth inning. With another walk issued, this time with two walks, catcher Yohel Pozo drove in thee runs with his 23rd double of the season.

By the seventh inning, everything had turned on its ear. Third baseman Brett Harris made it 7-2 with an RBI triple while center fielder Cooper Bowman added two more on a double two batters later.

First baseman Tyler Soderstrom got in on the action with an RBI single to run the lead to eight. He went 3-for-4 with two singles, a triple, an RBI, two runs scored and a walk.

Reliever Pedro Santos worked through a single and walk to begin the seventh inning. He’d strike out the side to get out of the jam. In the eighth, he’d mirror the performance with a double play to get out of a two-on, one out setting.

Starter Robert Dugger retired eight of the first nine he faced before finding himself with the bases loaded behind two walks and a single. He’d induce a line out to shortstop to avert danger and maintain a 2-0 lead at the time.

Dugger would leave the game with a 3-2 lead but having not gone the necessary innings, reliever Jack O’Loughlin (2-5) got the win. He produced five outs with three of them being strikeouts.

In a no-decision, Dugger gave up two runs on four hits in 4 ⅓ innings with seven strikeouts and five walks.

Wednesday, W, 5-3

Push the latest successful stretch by Las Vegas to six wins in the last eight games after picking up its first win of a scheduled six-game series against Albuquerque.

Salt Lake and Tacoma both lost so now the club is three games behind the top spot in the Pacific Coast League.

It was all hands on deck as the Aviators sent homers launching all around the ballpark. In total, the team hit three home runs, all in the first four innings of the game.

Designated hitter Tyler Soderstrom struck first with a two-run shot in the first inning. He went 2-for-3 and is now hitting .500 during this rehab stint including three homers, 8 RBI and five runs scored.

In that opening inning, third baseman Logan Davidson hit a solo blast for a 3-0 home team lead. Teammate Colby Thomas was responsible for the third and final home run, knocking in two to make it 5-1 in the fourth frame.

Powered by the hitting, pitcher Joe Boyle had a limited but strong start. He gave up a run on a hit in three innings on the bump with four strikeouts and a walk. That lone hit and run came on a solo homer in the bottom of the first after he was netted a three-run lead.

Albuquerque scored its final two runs in the sixth inning off reliever Jack Cushing, who was a part of a Las Vegas bullpen that went six innings, giving up two runs on three hits with nine strikeouts and four walks.

There were no hits surrendered in the final three innings of work for the Aviators. That stretch included the final 11 batters being retired in order with five strikeouts being tallied.

Thursday, W, 8-6

Three straight wins for Las Vegas extends its positive stretch to seven wins in the last nine tries for the club. It did however trail for the first time in the series despite the, 8-6, win.

The Aviators are now two and a half games behind.

Albuquerque snatched the lead in the first inning with a leadoff home run. It wouldn’t stop there as the visitors added two more runs in the same frame for a 3-0 lead.

Even after tying the game at three, the Isotopes went back ahead by two with a pair of RBI hits in the third innings.

Left fielder CJ Alexander originally tied the game at three with a three-run homer in the top of the second.

Catcher Yohel Pozo and designated hitter Carlos Perez went yard back-to-back in the fourth inning to give Las Vegas the lead. A lead it would never relinquish.

Pozo hit a three-run jack to make it 6-5 Aviators ahead of Perez’s solo bomb. Yesterday, Perez had his eight-game hit streak snapped.

For the second straight night, the Las Vegas bullpen had a massive outing, going six innings of one-run ball on two hits with four strikeouts and two walks. It held Albuquerque without a hit for the last two innings.

Reliever Austin Pruitt recorded his first save of the year in the winning effort.

Right-handed Wander Guante got the win after pitching four innings, giving up a run on two hits while tallying two strikeouts and two walks.

Starter James Gonzalez made his Triple-A debut and would yield five runs on eight hits in three innings of work.

Friday, L, 16-14 F/10

The Aviators suffered their first loss of the six-game road series against the Isotopes in walk-off fashion in an extra-inning outing. In total, there were 30 runs scored while 35 hits were tallied with runs scored in eight of the 10 innings.

Las Vegas held a 9-0 lead in the losing effort.

It was a big first inning for the Aviators as they jumped out to a seven-run lead. The team hit three-two run home runs in the first inning, all in a five-batter span forcing an early pitching change.

Catcher Carlos Perez has now homered in back-to-back games as the league’s reigning Player of the Week. Teammate Logan Davidson now has two homers in the series while recording 19 total bases through the first four games of a scheduled six. He also finished a single-shy of the cycle.

Right fielder Colby Thomas was responsible for the last two-run shot hit in the first. After going 0-for-5 in the first game, he is now five for his last 11.

Ultimately, Las Vegas would go up 9-0. Things would begin to go the wrong way with starting pitcher Blaker Beers on the mound.

Albuquerque would begin to chip away at the lead with extra-base hits. A two-run homer in the bottom of the third cut the deficit to 10-3 followed by an RBI sacrifice fly.

Beers really ran into trouble in the fifth inning with a two-run double and a two-run home run two at-bats later. He’d go 4 ⅓, with eight runs allowed (seven earned) on nine hits while recording four strikeouts and four walks.

After tying the game at 10, the Isotopes jumped on reliever Gerardo Reyes to take their first lead of the game on a three-run home run.

With such a big lead earlier in the game, the Aviators began crawling back into the game now down, 14-10.

First baseman Tristan Gray went yard to begin the comeback trail in just his second game back from the Oakland parent club. An RBI triple by third baseman CJ Alexander was the final piece to knotting the game 14-all.

Not scoring in the top of the 10th inning set the stage for a walk-off two run home run in the bottom half of the frame off reliever Dany Jimenez.

The collapse resulted in the loss for Jimenez, who dropped to 1-2 on the year.

Saturday, W, 12-3

A Saturday victory has secured a series win for Las Vegas as it picked up its eighth win in the last 11 games amidst this playoff push.

It was another fast start for the Aviators with a two-run dinger in the first inning by third baseman CJ Alexander. That would be followed by an RBI double left fielder Logan Davidson as part of his big day.

Catcher Yohel Pozo smacked a two-run homer in the top of the second for a 5-0 start for Las Vegas. Over the last two games, the Aviators have outscored the Isotopes 14-0 in the first two innings.

Davidson was one leg-shy of the cycle for a second straight game, this time a triple short. He was a perfect 4-for-4 with a single, two doubles, a home run, five RBI, two runs scored and a walk. In the last two games, he is 7-for-12 with 18 total bases.

All Albuquerque runs came in three innings starting with a solo homer in the bottom of the third. That would be followed up with an RBI single with one out in the fourth.

Starter Janson Junk would be pulled in the next inning with another run being charged to him afterward. He gave up three runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings of work with three strikeouts.

Reliever Zach Jackson would get the win to improve to 5-5 this season. It counted as his second win of the series.

Reliever Kade Morris got the save, the first of his career.

Sunday, W, 13-1

In a time that it needed it most, Las Vegas earned its third five-win series and its second in its last six tries following a series finale victory.

Pitcher Robert Dugger put forth six shutout innings, avoiding danger at every turn. He pumped out a strikeout and induced a fly out with two runners on and one out.

Dugger (5-1, 4.48 ERA) allowed just two hits in his outing with none coming after the third inning. In two appearances against Albuquerque this series, he pitched 10.1 innings, giving up just two runs on six hits while recording 12 strikeouts versus seven walks.

The offense jumped on Isotopes pitching early in the second inning via a four-run frame. Designated hitter Logan Davidson, second baseman Brett Harris and shortstop Darell Hernaiz all recorded RBI hits in the second inning with Harris plating two.

Las Vegas outscored Albuquerque 22-4 in the first two innings in this series.

Davidson did more damage with a two-run blast in the top of the third to increase the lead to 6-0. Hernaiz added to it with a solo shot an inning later.

Center fielder Hoy Park was the final straw of the scoring stretch when he joined in on the action with another two-run homer for the visitors. Las Vegas scored runs in six of the nine innings.