Z's polish off historic sweep of Isotopes

With a little luck from the bright New Mexico sunshine, the New Orleans Zephyrs made history on Sunday.

Kenny Wilson's pop up on the infield with two on and two outs in the top of the ninth inning was lost in the sun by Albuquerque second baseman Joey Wong, allowing the eventual winning run to score as the Z's finished off a four-game sweep of the Isotopes, 4-3.

The Zephyrs earned their first-ever series sweep in Albuquerque, a city where they had been 12-32 since becoming a Marlins affiliate in 2009. Dating back to when New Orleans joined the Pacific Coast League in 1998 and played the then-Albuquerque Dukes, the Z's had never swept a series in 27 previous visits to the Land of Enchantment.

After trailing 2-0 through five innings on Sunday, the Zephyrs rallied with three runs in the sixth to claim the lead, all scoring with two outs. Matt Juengel doubled to cash in a leadoff walk to Don Kelly, and Isaac Galloway roped a single to right field to tie the game. Elliot Soto then doubled to left to score Galloway with the go-ahead run.

But the Isotopes capitalized on a fielding error by Juengel to knot the score in the bottom half of the frame, courtesy of a two-out single by Ryan Casteel.

The game remained deadlocked until the ninth, when reliever Simon Castro issued consecutive two-out walks to Zephyrs catcher Adrian Nieto, mired in a 1-for-33 slump, and relief pitcher Cody Ege, setting the stage for Wilson's game-winner.

Ege (1-2) retired all six batters he faced over the final two innings with three strikeouts to earn the win in relief of Chris Narveson, who limited the Isotopes to one earned run and four hits in six innings.

Castro (0-3) took the loss for Albuquerque, which has lost six in a row and 10 of its last 12 games.

The Zephyrs return home to open an eight-game homestand on Monday at 6 p.m. against the Reno Aces.