Strugging 51s swept in 4-game series

Steve Addy

Friday, May 3, 2002 | 9:35 a.m.

Among the countless indignities suffered by the 51s this week -- most of them self-inflicted -- the final cut was the cruelest of all Thursday night. And the week isn't even over.

As if to sum up the absurdity of scoring 45 runs in four games and losing all of them, the 51s saved their worst for last in a 17-15 loss to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox at Cashman Field.

It was merely a tease when Las Vegas grabbed a 14-8 lead in the seventh inning and still led 14-11 going into the ninth, with closer Ricky Bones on the mound. Instead, it turned into another late-inning disaster, as a two-out error by Jeff Branson kept the Sky Sox alive and led to Bobby Estalella's decisive grand slam off the shaken Bones.

Though the 51s brought the potential winning run to the plate in the bottom of inning, there were no more clutch hits in their bag and their losing skid climbed to four, leaving them 16-12.

Thursday's defeat ended a bizarre and exasperating series that left the 51s' clubhouse eerily silent. Despite compiling 45 runs, 62 hits and 11 home runs in the four games, they suffered two losses by one run (17-16 in 14 innings and 12-11) and two by two runs (5-3 and 17-15).

Colorado Springs racked up 51 runs on 71 hits, including six home runs, inflating Las Vegas' season earned run average to 4.92 (from 4.08). The Sky Sox put together two six-run innings Thursday, two five-run innings Tuesday and a four-run inning Monday.

The only game that remotely resembled well-played baseball by both sides was Wednesday's, when the 51s gave up two runs in the ninth and lost 5-3.

"I can't think of a wilder series, a wilder four games, than we had in this series, whether we had won them all or lost them all," manager Brad Mills said, shaking his head. "Four games like this, back-to-back? You've got to be kidding me."

The way Thursday's game ended was particularly galling to Mills.

"This one hurts," he said. "I had the right guy in the right spot (Bones). We are on a string right now that we need to break, pitching-wise, and we will. But it's going to take a little time for our guys to get some solid innings under their belt so that their confidence comes back."

Aside from the 51s' continued run production -- they lead the PCL in hits, runs, home runs and batting average -- their only positive development in the finale was a solid stint by righthanded reliever Guillermo Mota. In his first game since being reassigned by the Dodgers, he worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings while the 51s pulled away to a 14-8 lead.

"We thought Mota's innings would get us over the hump and get us going," Mills said.

But his successors out of the bullpen, Shane Nance, Craig House and Bones, couldn't contain the Sky Sox in the last two innings. The threesome allowed nine runs on seven hits.