The Las Vegas Reyes De Plata fought hard but lost to the El Paso Margaritas 15-14 at Las Vegas Ballpark Tuesday night in what was the team’s longest game of the season. The game ended up going just five minutes shy of four hours.
In the first, it was the Margaritas who got the party started. Second baseman Matthew Batten led off with a single to right field. He beat the throw on a strike-them out, throw-them out play to reach second safely. Batten eventually came around to score on a single to left from first baseman Alfonso Rivas.
El Paso added onto its lead in the third as Las Vegas starter Aaron Wilkerson struggled to escape the inning without giving up any runs. Jose Iglesias singled to lead off the third inning. Because Wilkerson was taking too long on the mound, the pitch clock expired for ball four to Alfonso Rivas. Wilkerson then walked Tim Lopes to load the bases. A 4-6-3 double play led to two outs but also brought around Iglesias to score. Wilkerson then gave up a single to Yorman Rodriguez before walking David Dahl. That would end his night as the Reyes De Plata brought in Colin Peluse who struck out Michael Cantu. Heading to the home half, El Paso was leading 3-0.
However, Las Vegas looked to chip away at that lead. Max Schuemann and Trenton Brooks hit back-to-back doubles in the left field corner to put ducks on a pond. A ground out scored Schuemann while Brooks and Cody Thomas were stranded on the base paths to make it 3-1.
Reyes De Plata catcher Yohel Pozo came in to pinch hit and eventually take over catching duties from Tyler Soderstrom. That’s after Soderstrom took a foul ball off the bat of David Dahl to a sensitive area in the top of the second inning. He was down for a few minutes while trainers checked him but he was able to stay in the game to finish the inning.
In the top of the fourth, El Paso center fielder Luis Liberato drew a walk and moved to third on a double by Jose Iglesias. A sac fly allowed Liberato to score while a single by Tim Lopes brought Iglesias in to make it 5-1. (Aviators fans might know that Lopes is the brother of former Aviators player Christian Lopes.)
Vegas rallied in the fourth to knot things up at five. It started with a towering home run to right center field courtesy of Conner Capel to make it 5-2 and extend Capel’s hitting streak to eight straight games. First baseman Kyle McCann then drew a walk followed by three singles up the middle, which brought McCann and two other runners in to tie the game.
That offensive explosion led El Paso to send reliever Nabil Crismatt to the mound to face Las Vegas in the fifth. The Reyes De Plata got its first lead of the night in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Capel hit a double before coming in to score on a base hit from McCann to make it 6-5 Las Vegas. Tyler Wade hopped aboard with a walk and the pair both moved into scoring position after Crismatt threw a wild pitch. A sac fly from Schuemann moved the two up another 90 feet to bring McCann home making it 7-5. However, a strikeout ended the inning and ended Crismatt’s night.
El Paso looked to chip away at the Las Vegas lead in the seventh and eventually batted around sending 10 batters to the plate and bringing in four more runs to go ahead 9-7 heading to the seventh inning stretch. That was due to a combo of four hits and Las Vegas reliever Rico Garcia struggling to find the strike zone by walking three batters.
In the home half of the frame, Schuemann hopped aboard with a single. A single from Trenton Brooks moved him into scoring position before he made it home on an RBI single from Jordan Diaz.
However, El Paso got that run back in the next frame with a solo shot to the right field concourse courtesy of Taylor Kohlwey to make it 10-8. With one out, Dahl drew a walk, moved up on a fielder’s choice, and scored on an RBI single from Liberato. After giving up the single to Liberato, Las Vegas reliever Domingo Acevedo, who started the inning, left the game with an apparent injury, which led to Francisco Perez coming in to pitch. El Paso batted through the order adding four more runs to have a 15-8 advantage heading to the bottom of the eighth.
Las Vegas looked to chip away at the lead. Two walks and a single loaded the bases before a fielder’s choice brought in a run. That’s when Trenton Brooks stepped into the box before absolutely sending a shot over the right field wall to clear the bases and make it 15-13 heading to the ninth.
In the bottom of the ninth, Pozo stepped into the box and hit a solo home run to put Las Vegas just one run off the lead. However, it wasn’t enough as a pair of strikeouts ended the game.
Las Vegas’ losing streak goes to three games following a disappointing road trip that saw the squad go 4-8 against the Salt Lake Bees and Tacoma Rainiers. Both teams will return to the Las Vegas Ballpark for another epic battle on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
Wright Beyond The Bleachers 