Struggling 51s lose momentum as they embark on first road trip

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, April 16, 2002 | 10:02 a.m.

Dye to begin rehab assignment vs. 51s

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Jermaine Dye will begin a rehabilitation assignment today with the Oakland Athletics' triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.

The outfielder is expected to play three home games for the River Cats in a series against the 51s beginning tonight. The A's then will decide whether to recall Dye for a weekend series against Anaheim at the Coliseum.

Dye hasn't played since breaking his left leg with a foul ball in Game 4 of last season's AL division series against the New York Yankees. His recovery has been somewhat slower than expected, and he began the season on Oakland's disabled list.

--The Associated Press

After losing three straight games and four of their last six at home, the Las Vegas 51s find themselves trying to regain the momentum they had at the beginning of the season when they were 5-1.

The latest setback, a 7-3 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies on a chilly Monday night at Cashman Field, was lost by the fourth inning.

Las Vegas starter Victor Alvarez continued his struggles, surrendering nine hits, six runs, two walks and striking out three in four innings en route to his third loss.

"He hasn't been real sharp his last three outings," 51s pitching coach Shawn Barton said. "Usually, he's the kind of guy that's around the plate, down in the zone and able to get his pitches over for strikes and he hasn't been able to do that.

"He's been hurt by working behind in the count. We've just got to keep working, hang in there and hope he doesn't lose confidence."

Fresno and Las Vegas have identical records of 7-5.

Grizzlies' starter Jeff Urban gave up five hits, one earned run and struck out four in six innings for his second win.

The Las Vegas bullpen kept the team within striking distance, but the 51s were unable to capitalize on several chances. Las Vegas stranded runners at third in the first, second, seventh and eighth innings.

51s reliever Ben Simon had a solid outing, striking out four in three scoreless innings while Stan Spencer allowed one unearned run in the final two.

Fresno right-fielder Nelson Castro, who was a double away from hitting for the cycle, scored the Grizzlies' final run on Spencer's wild pitch in the ninth.

"We kept battling," 51s manager Brad Mills said. "We had the runners in scoring position.

"We at least gave ourselves a chance to score some runs and that's all we can ask right now. The hits are going to start coming."

The Grizzlies built on their 2-1 lead with four runs in the fourth inning.

Shortstop Cody Ransom doubled, went to third on Mike Byas' single and scored when Alvarez threw the ball past first baseman Chin-Feng Chen in an attempt to throw out Byas. Castro tripled in Byas and left fielder Brian Simmons belted Alvarez's first pitch over the left-field wall for his second homer of the year.

The 51s sprinkled in runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings.

Third baseman Rick Bell singled in right fielder Bubba Crosby in the second, Bell hit his first homer of the year in the fifth and catcher Todd Greene singled in second baseman Joe Thurston for the 51s' final run.

Bell and Greene each had two hits.

"You go through spurts and this team will be fine," Greene said. "I think their starters were better than the other staffs.

"Their first two starters (Luis Estrella and Jason Schmidt, formerly of the Pirates and Giants) of this team were the best we've seen all year."

Fresno entered the game with the second-best ERA in the Pacific Coast League at 2.51 behind Memphis.

Mills is puzzled by the team's recent skid, but is confident the 51s will regroup.

"Any time you play as many games that we've had at home, you'd like to play well," Mills said. "We did get off to a good start earlier and we've kind of struggled the last couple of games.

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