Sacramento Splits Series with Las Vegas Behind Shutout

SUMMERLIN, Nev. – The Sacramento River Cats earned a series split with the Las Vegas Aviators on Sunday by a final of 3-0, with five Sacramento hurlers combining to keep Las Vegas off the scoreboard for their second shutout win of the season.

While pitching was the story, the River Cats (61-76) started their scoring in the game’s first set of swings. Sacramento was primed for a big inning with the bases full and no outs but scored only one time on a sacrifice fly from Armando Alvarez. Scoring was Wade Meckler, who singled to open the frame in front of a Tyler Fitzgerald two-bagger.

Spotted with a run early, River Cats starter Kai-Wei Teng (6-4) had to work hard in the early going as he dodged a pair of base runners for the Aviators (71-66) with a strikeout in the first, and then escaped a jam by fanning another in the third after a pair of walks reached scoring position on a wild pitch.

Including all three outs in the third, Teng retired nine consecutive batters until his exit in the sixth, handing the baton to Randy Rodriguez. Rodriguez was the first of five relievers to keep the game scoreless and he was the only of the five to allow a hit, but did record his fourth hold of the year.

Insurance came in the seventh for Sacramento after they opened the inning with a triple from Wade Meckler, his first Triple-A three-bagger. His liner into right center had a runner 90 feet from home where he scored easily on a failed pickoff attempt by Garrett Williams. With two on thanks to a pair of walks, Alvarez delivered his second RBI of the night with a knock through the right side to push the game to 3-0.

Now working with a three-run cushion, the bullpen continued to dominate as both Juan Sanchez and Nick Avila worked a hitless frame while striking out one and facing the minimum. That left Erik Miller to close out the contest, which he did by punching out two and inducing a game-ending groundout after walking the first two hitters he faced.

That marked the 11th save of the campaign for Miller, who has been stellar since Aug. 2 as he is 6-for-6 in save opportunities and has allowed no runs and only a single hit (.024 opponent batting average) in 13.1 innings of work. His 14 consecutive scoreless outings have matched Mauricio Llovera’s team-leading streak from last season, and both are tied for the longest such streak since Jeremy McBryde went 18 games without allowing a run in 2014.

It also preserved the win for Teng, who has the most wins of any Sacramento starter after he tossed 5.0 scoreless frames and allowed only two hits while walking three and striking out eight. Over his last five games, Teng has racked up a 4-0 record along with a 1.71 ERA (five earned runs in 26.1 innings pitched) and a 1.06 WHIP while fanning 34 batters and holding opponents to a .172 batting average. In two starts this series against Las Vegas, Teng yielded one run on eight hits in 10.1 innings with 12 strikeouts.

Charged with the loss was Joe Boyle (0-2), who surrendered only one run on four hits with five walks and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings.

Meckler yet again had a pair of hits, closing his night 2-for-5 with a pair of runs scored and his triple. He now has six straight multi-hit efforts, the longest such streak on Sacramento this season. Should he long one more in his next contest, he would match three others for the longest streak in Triple-A.

Outside of Meckler, Alvarez was a perfect 2-for-2 as he was responsible for diving in two of the three River Cats runs. Fitzgerald reached three times as he was 1-for-3 with a run scored, a double and pair of walks, as did Ricardo Genoves who was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.

Sacramento now returns home for the final homestand of the season, a six-game set against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys that begins on Tuesday at 6:45 from Sutter Health Park.