Albuquerque 5, Las Vegas 2 I wonder if I lit a fire under Carlos Torres when I questioned his employment status with the 51s when I covered his last start in disappointment. Torres was actually quite impressive on Monday evening, lasting six innings and allowing just four baserunners over that span. He allowed a run to cross the plate in the first on a ground-out, but was otherwise in control for his time in the [...]

  Las Vegas 4, Albuquerque 3 Despite a near-bullpen meltdown, the Las Vegas 51s were able to avert any further damage and best Albuquerque by a final score of 4-3. Collin McHugh got the nod for the 51s and had himself his second-straight spectacular outing. McHugh went seven frames allowing just one run on six hits while walking two and striking out five. The 25-year old righty was putting up goose eggs up until the sixth [...]

Las Vegas 3, Round Rock 2 Collin McHugh took the mound tonight and pitched a heck of a game. He continued his tremendous start to the season tossing seven scoreless innings. The righty threw 90 pitches (59 strikes), allowed just five hits, struck out five, and left the game with a 1-0 lead. McHugh came into the game leading the 51s with a 3.57 ERA, but after tonight’s masterful performance, he lowered his ERA to 2.98. McHugh was [...]

Las Vegas 6, Sacramento 2 Zack Wheeler took the hill yesterday afternoon against the River Cats and was firing on all cylinders as he made quick work of Sacramento, cruising to his second victory on the season. Wheeler took the mound looking to build off of his solid outing against the Reno Aces in which he struck out eight over 6 2/3 innings back on April 30th. This time, the Mets top prospect went six shutout frames allowing just [...]

Las Vegas 14, Reno 8 Carlos Torres got the start tonight and wasn’t very sharp. Torres had traffic on the base paths all night long, allowing a total of 12 base runners. The 30-year-old gave up a hit and a walk to start the game, but was saved by a pickoff at first base.  In the second, he loaded the bases to start the inning, but limited the damage and gave up just two runs. [...]

Las Vegas 12, Tacoma 13  The night did not look promising for Zack Wheeler as the first two hitters led off the game with back-to-back doubles, and before you could blink, the 51s were down 1-0. Wheeler settled down after that and retired the next three batters in order, including two strikeouts. Wheeler cruised through the next three innings, as he did not allow a hit and surrendered just one walk. In the fifth inning, Wheeler’s [...]

Replacing Jose Reyes was never going to be easy, but with Ruben Tejada’s fielding prowess if he could hit just a little that would be acceptable to the Mets. Perhaps that should read, “former fielding prowess.’’ Trouble is, he’s not hitting or fielding. He’s not even just holding his own; he’s been poor at both, actually terrible. Tejada has committed six errors in 13 games – a pace for just under 80 – and the Mets have already lost [...]

Las Vegas 3, Sacramento 2 Carlos Torres gave the team five solid innings and held the River Rats to two runs on the night while striking out ten batters. He allowed eight base runners on seven hits and a walk. Torres left the game down 2-0, but the bullpen shut the door after that allowing the 51s to come back and win the game. Adam Kolarek, Greg Peavey, and Robert Carson combined for four shutout innings. [...]

After losing the first game of their doubleheader with the Colorado Rockies 8-4, it looked as though the Mets might pull out a win in the finale after taking a commanding 8-1 lead through the top of the fifth. But it all fell apart as the blunders, errors and shoddy pitching saw the Rockies mount a shocking 10th inning 9-8 comeback victory to send the Mets reeling and gingerly walking back to the comfort of [...]

Las Vegas 14, Fresno 3 The 51s bats were in full force, putting the game out of reach by the first inning with a five-spot. — Collin McHugh had a great outing today, going seven innings and allowing four hits while being charged with two unearned runs. He walked nobody and struck out five. McHugh had the offense behind him for the duration of the game so it was just a matter of not imploding [...]

Yesterday, Adam Rubin of ESPN New York reported that the Mets decided to send Omar Quintanilla to Triple-A Vegas to start the season so they could minimize the risk of losing him to waivers early in the season. Quintanilla is not currently on the 40-man roster. Collins said the Mets were wary of carrying Quintanilla out of spring training in part because if they ever needed to free a spot on the major league roster and Quintanilla was the [...]