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PCL1 Las Vegas Aviators

Aviators Sweep Chihuahuas, Inch Closer to First Place

July 29, 2019 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Las Vegas Aviators News Release


On more than one occasion this season, Aviators manager Fran Riordan has praised his players for their ability to quickly bounce back from tough situations, be it a bad game, bad series or bad week.

This weekend in El Paso, Riordan's players displayed their resiliency in a huge way.

After dropping the final two games of a three-game home series against the first-place Chihuahuas, then falling behind 11-4 in the opener of a weekend series in El Paso, the Aviators stormed back to sweep the three-game set, capped by Sunday's 10-1 victory at Southwest University Ballpark.

Las Vegas ace Paul Blackburn (8-3) held the Pacific Coast League's most powerful offense to just six singles and a double in seven shutout innings, while Seth Brown - who homered once on Friday and twice on Saturday - went deep twice more in Sunday's finale that capped a six-game home-and-home series between the top two teams in the PCL's Pacific Southern Division.

In rallying to take four of the six contests, the Aviators (62-45) pulled to within one game of El Paso (63-44) with 33 to play.

The results over the weekend were as stunning as they were remarkable (not to mention historic). After Las Vegas opened the six-game, home-and-home set with Tuesday's 9-6 victory at Las Vegas Ballpark, the Chihuahuas seized momentum with by taking the next two games by scores of 5-3 and 15-9. Then the scene shifted to Texas, and El Paso came out throwing Mike Tyson-like haymakers, scoring four runs in the first inning, three in the second and four more in the third to build an 11-4 lead.

At that moment, the Aviators were so punch-drunk that had it indeed been a prizefight, the referee likely would've mercifully stopped it. But showing the resiliency that Riordan has talked about all season, his players summoned some Rocky-like grit, picked themselves up off the canvas and scored the game's final 14 runs to prevail 20-11.

When the shocking comeback was over, Las Vegas had set a PCL record with 11 home runs, including three from catcher Sean Murphy, and two each from shortstop Jorge Mateo and outfielders Dustin Fowler and Mark Payton.

All of a sudden, the Chihuahuas were the team that was punch-drunk, and the Aviators took full advantage, slugging four more homers in Saturday's 11-2 victory and five more in Sunday's 10-1 rout. Just how dominant were the Aviators? After falling behind 11-4 in Friday's series-opener, they outscored El Paso 35-3 the rest of the way.

Not surprisingly, it was a total team effort: Infielders, outfielders, catchers, starting and relief pitchers - they all contributed in the sweep. Among the heroes:

- Murphy, who came off the injured list on Wednesday after being sidelined with a knee injury since late April, played in two games and went 5-for-9 with four home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored. He also hit a two-run homer in his final at-bat of Thursday's 15-9 loss to El Paso, giving him five long balls and nine RBI in his last 10 at-bats.

- Brown had multiple hits and went deep in all three games, going 7-for-14 with five homers and nine RBI. The first baseman hit safely in all six games against El Paso, going 12-for-25 with eight homers, 13 RBI and 12 runs. He raised his season average from .276 to .291 over the six contests and ran his team-leading home-run total to 27, which ties him for fourth in the PCL.

- Fowler went 8-for-18 with three homers, six RBI and four runs. The outfielder hit safely in five of the six contests versus the Chihuahuas, going 11-for-32.

- Like Brown and Fowler, Payton also had multiple hits in all three games, finishing 7-for-14 while chipping in three homers and six RBI. The outfielder finished the six games against El Paso 11-for-26.

- Mateo, a PCL All-Star who entered the week in the midst of his worst slump of the season, went 8-for-14 with three homers, two doubles, four RBI and 10 runs. Like Murphy, he also hit a two-run blast Thursday in Las Vegas, and he ended the week against the Chihuahuas going 12-for-23 with four doubles, four homers, seven RBI, 10 runs and two stolen bases.

- In addition to Blackburn's gem Sunday, Parker Dunshee was outstanding in his start Saturday, scattering one run, three hits and three walks while striking out six in five innings.

- After Kyle Finnegan allowed three runs in two innings of relief Friday, the Aviators' bullpen was virtually flawless. A.J. Puk, Ben Bracewell, J.B. Wendelken, Miguel Romero, Jharel Cotton, Ryan Dull and Kyle Lobstein combined to hold El Paso - which leads the PCL in home runs and ranks second to Las Vegas in runs scored - to just two runs, 10 hits (two homers) and two walks with 13 strikeouts in 11 innings.

Thanks to the sweep in El Paso, the Aviators are now 21-10 over their last 31 games. Most importantly, they head into Monday's off day as close to first place as they've been since the end of April.

AT HOME ON THE ROAD: Las Vegas has now won or tied 12 of 14 road series this season, including six in a row. That's helped Riordan's squad compile a 34-21 record away from Las Vegas Ballpark.

The Aviators were especially dominant in El Paso, going 7-1. Of course, the Chihuahuas returned the favor, winning seven of eight meetings in Las Vegas. Add it up, and the road team went 14-2 during the 16-game season series.

RUNNING IT UP: It's not exactly earthshattering news that the top two offenses in the offensive-friendly PCL put up a bunch of runs against one another this season. Still, the fireworks show the Aviators and Chihuahuas displayed during their 16 meetings was nothing short of astounding, even for the PCL.

The two teams combined to score 271 runs (average of 16.9 per game), while clubbing 92 home runs. While the Aviators outscored the Chihuahuas 90-50 in eight games in El Paso, the Chihuahuas held an 80-51 scoring edge in Las Vegas. There were double-digit runs tallied in 15 of the 16 contests, the only exception being El Paso's 5-3 victory in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

ON DECK: Following Monday's day of rest, the Aviators will open a seven-game homestand against the New Orleans Baby Cakes and Oklahoma City Dodgers, both of whom will be visiting Las Vegas Ballpark for the first time. After three games against New Orleans on Tuesday through Thursday, the Aviators will face Oklahoma City four times from Friday through August 5.

Left-hander Sean Manaea (0-1, 10.38 ERA) will make his second rehab start for Las Vegas in Tuesday's opener against New Orleans. After Manaea's takes the hill, the Aviators will go with a pair of right-handers in Tanner Anderson (6-5, 6.00) and Brian Howard (0-0, 36.00). Meanwhile, the Baby Cakes are scheduled to start a trio of right-handers: Hector Noesi (11-4, 3.61) on Tuesday, Cody Poteet (0-0, 3.90) on Wednesday and Joe Gunkel (3-1, 3.86) on Thursday.

The Baby Cakes and Dodgers are the Triple-A affiliates of the Miami Marlins and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from July 29, 2019


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