51s split doubleheader, fall short of .500 mark

By Case Keefer (contact)

Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009 | 12:17 a.m.

It’s always hard for a baseball team to recover from a late-inning collapse -- especially when its next game starts in 30 minutes.

That’s why the Las Vegas 51s’ split with the Salt Lake Bees in a doubleheader Monday night at Cashman Field impressed center fielder Buck Coats so much.

“That’s the thing about baseball, you have to come back for the second game,” Coats said. “The first game is over.”

Las Vegas continued its hot streak in Game 2 against Salt Lake with a 6-5 victory, its eighth win in nine games. The sole defeat in that streak came earlier in the night when the 51s were demoralized in a 7-5 loss.

Both contests featured only seven innings to allow for the doubleheader.

“It’s good to play those every now and then,” Coats said. “It’s fun to change everything up.”

Despite bouncing back with a win, the 51s missed their chance to reach .500 for the first time this season. They will head into an eight-game road trip with a 55-56 record.

Still, that’s not too bad for a team that was 26-40 in mid-June. Las Vegas has a travel day Tuesday before getting another chance to even its record in a Wednesday tilt at Omaha.

“It’s a little disappointing just because of the way we lost the first game,” Las Vegas manager Mike Basso said. “But I feel with this ball club, it will come.”

The 51s might have missed reaching a team milestone, but first baseman Randy Ruiz grabbed an individual one. Ruiz blasted a home run to right-center field in the third inning of the second game for his 100th RBI of the season. It was also his 25th home run.

Designated hitter Brian Dopirak finished off his torrid series by going four-for-seven with three RBIs. For the series, he went 11-for-16.

“Basso and our hitting coach just told me to be myself and play the game,” Dopirak said. “I got some pitches to hit and I didn’t miss them.”

Dopirak hit a home run in the fourth inning of the first game for the 51s’ first run. They followed it by scoring two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Las Vegas led 5-2 going into the final inning of the first game. It looked as if the team would cruise to a .500 record after starter T.J. Beam retired the first batter with a groundout.

But Beam walked Salt Lake second baseman Gary Patchett next, which forced pitching coach Dave LaRoche to come to the mound and pull Beam. In came Bubbie Buzachero, the bullpen’s most reliable weapon, to close the game.

Buzachero failed to record an out and gave up a two-run triple to Bee shortstop Brandon Wood to hand over the lead after a five-run seventh inning. None of Las Vegas’ three batters in the bottom of the seventh reached base.

“We’ve been playing awfully good the last seven or eight games and just lost a tough one in the first game,” Coats said.

After a half-hour break, the 51s sprinted back onto the field to applause from the crowd for the rematch. They quickly gave the Cashman Field faithful more to cheer about.

Coats led off the first inning with a walk and Ruiz promptly drove him in with a double to left field. Left fielder Travis Snider, last week’s Pacific Coast League Player of the Week, doubled Ruiz in. Dopirak struck again and gave the 51s their third and final run of the inning with an RBI single up the middle.

Dopirak said the 51s’ strong resolve after a tough loss wasn’t surprising.

“We’ve got a lot of experienced ballplayers on this team,” Dopirak said. “I knew with something like that they were going to come out there and do what it takes.”

Marty McLeary pitched six innings for Las Vegas in the second game, giving up only two runs. When McLeary came out in the top of the seventh, the Bees rallied for three runs to make it a one-run game before fading.

A memorable home run by Travis Snider in the fifth inning ended up being the difference. Snider towered a fastball over the right-center field wall. The ball was hit so hard it might have landed at Nellis Air Force Base.

Snider’s drive appeared to defy the laws of gravity, just as the 51s’ turnaround defied baseball’s conventional wisdom.