51s' Houlton gets best of Beavers

Las Vegas starter D.J. Houlton two-hit Portland over seven innings as the visiting 51s edged the Beavers, 3-1, on Wednesday.

The 51s (61-71) broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the eighth inning against Portland starter Jared Wells (2-7). With two outs, Sergio Garcia singled and Oscar Robles doubled. Matt Kemp hit a grounder to Paul McAnulty, but the third baseman's errant throw to first base allowed Garcia and Robles to score.

Houlton (10-8) came back with a strong outing after retiring just two batters and getting tagged with nine unearned runs in his last start Friday. Against the Beavers (63-68), he allowed one run and struck out eight to lower his ERA to 5.64.

Portland's Jon Knott singled in the second and Terrmel Sledge connected for his 20th homer in the fourth. After that, the 27-year-old right-hander retired his last 11 batters.

Tim Hamulack followed with two hitless frames to record his third save.

Wells surrendered three unearned runs on four hits, striking out three and walking two over eight innings. Mike Adams hurled a scoreless inning in relief.