Stars lose fourth straight

Friday, May 22, 1998 | 11:41 a.m.

OMAHA, Neb. --- Despite a sparkling triple-A debut by outfielder Dusty Allen, the Las Vegas Stars tied their longest losing streak of the season with their fourth straight defeat here Thursday night, a 4-2 loss to the Omaha Royals at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Allen, summoned from double-A Mobile along with veteran Doug Dascenzo to help fill out the injury-plagued Stars roster, homered in his first triple-A at-bat, a 400-foot shot over the left field fence off Omaha started Matt Saier (2-3) in the top of second.

Allen's homer gave Las Vegas a brief 1-0 lead. But Omaha answered with four runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning off Stars starter Scott Sanders (0-1), including a home run by designated hitter Carlos Mendez and a two-run single by shortstop Mendy Lopez.

Las Vegas (20-20) could manage just one more run after that. Shortstop Juan Melo singled in first baseman Mandy Romero, who had been hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a single by third baseman George Arias, in the fourth inning.

Saier, who entered the game with a 8.47 ERA, yielded just seven hits in eight innings before giving way to Bart Evans, who had a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his sixth save.

Allen went 2 for 4 in his Stars' debut. Dascenzo started in center field and batted lead off, but went 0 for 4.

Left-hander Heath Murray (2-2) will try to snap the Stars' skid tonight when he faces Omaha right-hander Roland De La Meza (3-3).

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