D'Arnaud Goes Deep, Schwinden Hammered, Vegas Blown Out 19-5

Colorado Springs 19, Las Vegas 5

Ouch. The Colorado Spring Sky Sox destroyed the Las Vegas 51s in Monday’s night affair, 19-5.

Chris Schwinden got the start and struggled mightily – although it was not completely his fault. His final line says it all – 3.2 innings pitched with seven hits (two home runs) and four walks allowed. This all added up to eight runs allowed – although only four of them were earned. Schwinden got off to a rocky start and the defense behind him did him no favors, as he walked the lead-off batter and then had errors made on two consecutive plays. A three-run homer in the inning provided the major damage, and unfortunately for Las Vegas, their opposition would never look back.

Considering that there were six errors committed by Vegas in this game and it quickly became an ugly and lop-sided affair, I wanted to take a second to focus on the positives to take away from the game. Travis d’Arnaud had an awesome game at the plate, where he was 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and three walks. It was his first long ball of the year. He is batting .300 on the campaign now with a .488 OBP. I would be remiss, however, not to mention the error charged to him on an errant pickoff.

Juan Lagares, who many had written off before this year, is having a strong showing so far this year in AAA and he added another solid game on Monday. He was 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI, and is batting .346 to this point in the season. A tip of my invisible hat also goes to Armando Rodriguez, who was the only Vegas pitcher not to allow a run in Monday’s game – although Justin Hampson had zero earned runs charged to him as well.

Las Vegas will dust themselves off and send Collin McHugh to the mound tomorrow evening for their shot at redemption.