After scoring 13 runs in the first game of the Pacific Coast League Championship Series on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Aviators’ bats cooled off the rest of the way.
The Oklahoma City Comets froze out Las Vegas on Thursday night and claimed the PCL title, as the Aviators were dealt a 5-2 loss in the decisive game of the series.
Las Vegas put up a late rally — a two-run homer off the bat of center fielder Brayan Buelvas in the eighth inning — but was silenced most of the game by Comet pitchers. The Aviators didn’t advance a runner to third base until the sixth.
“We couldn’t break through,” Las Vegas manager Fran Riordan said. “You have to give a lot of credit to their pitching staff. They did a really good job of executing and keeping us off the barrel.
“We battled and battled, but weren’t able to push anything across until Buelvas’ two-run home run.”
Oklahoma City advances to face the International League champion Rochester Red Wings in the Triple-A National Championship Game on Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Jerming Rosario got the win, going 1⅔ scoreless innings. James Gonzalez took the loss, opening the game by giving up one run in two innings. Paul Gervase pitched a clean ninth inning for the save.
The Comets claimed a 1-0 lead in the second inning when catcher Eliezer Alfonzo doubled home center field Alek Thomas. Aviators right-hander Matt Sauer relieved Gonzalez in the third, but gave up two runs while only getting one out in 33 pitches — a deep sac fly from Thomas that scored left fielder Josue De Paula.
Las Vegas then turned to hard-throwing reliever Jared Johnson, who blanked Oklahoma City over 2⅓ innings.
The Aviators came frustratingly close to getting into the game on several occasions. In the fourth inning with a runner on, catcher Bryan Lavastida put a charge on a ball that fell into Thomas’ glove at the warning track.
One inning later, a Christian Romero fastball left Devin Taylor’s bat at 102.4 mph, but came three feet shy of the center-field wall.
Las Vegas loaded the bases in the seventh with walks by catcher Cole Conn, shortstop Darell Hernaiz and designated hitter Bryan Lavastida. That rally ended when right fielder Johnathan Rodriguez grounded out on a Kyle Hart fastball down the center of the strike zone.
The Comets added two more runs in the eighth on run-scoring doubles by Zach Ehrhard and De Paula.
In the eighth inning, the Aviators finally averted the shutout. Hernaiz lined a ball to the left-center gap, his helmet flying off before second base as he sprinted for a triple. Buelvas got Las Vegas on the board by launching a 421-foot home run to center.
The loss ended a successful season for the Aviators, which included a first-half PCL championship and the graduation of top Athletics prospects like Henry Bolte, Gage Jump, Tommy White and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer.
“As much as it hurts right now, we played such good baseball for such a long time,” Riordan said. “The effort that the guys gave, and the work they put in, and the performances that they constantly gave us all year, that was just so fun to watch.”
