Las Vegas falls short in bid for franchise win record

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Aug. 30, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

The Las Vegas 51s took the field Thursday night in search of a franchise-record 84th win.

Just seven minutes later, it was fairly clear that lofty mark would allude them for at least one more day.

The 51s found themselves down by four in the top of the first when Nashville's Armando Romero ripped a 3-run homer to deep left. Two hours and 34 minutes later, Romero had another home run, a double and six RBIs, and the Sounds had a 12-5 victory at Cashman Field.

"That's a good hitting ballclub over there," said 51s manager Brad Mills, whose team lost for the first time in five games. "They were due to break out and they did break out in a big way."

Nashville (71-68) hammered Las Vegas starter Victor Alvarez for seven runs on nine hits and one walk over five innings, then pushed across five more runs over the final four innings off relievers Phil Devey and Steve Falteisek.

Romero, the Sounds' first baseman, belted a pair of 3-run shots to lead the visitors' 17-hit assault. Shawn Gilbert, Tike Redman, Adrian Brown, David Post and Tomas de la Rosa all had at least two hits for Nashville, which scored four runs in the top of the seventh to take a commanding 11-1 lead.

The 51s (83-57) clawed within six runs in the bottom of the seventh when Joe Thurston hit a two-run homer to right field. But Nashville added an insurance run in the eighth, and two Sounds relievers closed the door from there to postpone a Las Vegas wins record celebration.

"I told them to go try and get some good hacks, and they did and we scored those four runs," Mills said. "But the four runs we gave up in the seventh really took the air out."