Late rally falls short in Z's 15th straight loss

Las Vegas scored in each of the first four innings and held off a late Zephyrs charge, and Seth Lugo struck out 12 over 6 2/3 innings to lead the 51s to a 5-4 win over New Orleans on Sunday night.

The Zephyrs extended their club-record losing streak to 15 games, two shy of the Pacific Coast League record established by Sacramento in 1925. New Orleans has lost 23 of its last 25 games overall and 20 of 25 at Zephyr Field.

The 51s won their third in a row to maintain a slim lead over El Paso in the Pacific South Division.

A native of Shreveport, Lugo (2-0) fanned at least one batter in every inning en route to a dozen for the game, the most against the Z's since P.J. Walters had 14 for the Memphis Redbirds on July 25, 2009, in the midst of the Zephyrs' previous club-record 13-game losing skid.

Trevor Williams made his Triple-A debut for New Orleans, the fifth pitcher to do so this month. The right-hander, ranked seventh on MLB.com's list of Marlins prospects, seemed to be in line for a spotless first inning until third baseman Zack Cox misplayed a ground ball for a two-out error.

The miscue opened the door for a Las Vegas rally, as Williams allowed a single to Kirk Nieuwenhuis, hit Johnny Monell with a pitch and walked Brandon Allen to force in a run.

Lugo helped his cause an inning later with a double to the wall in center field, and scored on a two-out double by Darrell Ceciliani.

Back-to-back doubles by Matt Reynolds and Eric Young, Jr. in the third plated two more runs for the 51s, spelling the end of the night for Williams (0-1), who was charged with four runs (three earned) on six hits in three innings.

Eric Campbell crushed his fifth home run of the season off Blake Logan in the fourth to push the Las Vegas lead to 5-0, with all five runs scoring with two outs.

New Orleans finally broke through against Lugo in the seventh, as Juan Diaz singled and came around to score when Cox's liner skipped off the right field chalk. Cody Satterwhite limited the damage to one run by striking out pinch hitter Vinny Rottino to strand a pair of baserunners.

The Zephyrs rallied in the bottom of the ninth off Chasen Bradford. Isaac Galloway blooped a single to right, and a single by Austin Wates and a walk to Austin Nola loaded the bases with one out.

Donovan Solano was credited with a single when Campbell slipped while fielding a grounder at third, and Reid Brignac followed with a double into the right-center field gap to score a pair and extend his hit streak to 16 games, the longest active streak in the PCL.

Las Vegas chose to intentionally walk Tomas Telis to again load the bases, and the move paid off as Brady Shoemaker's ground ball to Campbell at third was relayed home for one out, then on to first for a game-ending double play.

The Z's continue the series on Monday at 6 p.m.