Tucson Padres baseball
Padres increase 1st-place lead before season-high crowd
The Tucson Padres increased their first place lead in the Southern Division to 1.5 games after defeating the Las Vegas 51s 6-5 Thursday in front of a season-high 10,950 fans at Kino Stadium. The Padres are now eight games over .500 with a 48-40 record. The Padres have won 10 of their last 14 games.
Zach Lutz's eighth home run of the season handed the 51s a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. The Padres answered with five runs, all-coming with two outs, to take a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the second. Sean O'Sullivan cleared the bases with a double past a diving Matt den Dekker in center field and was immediately followed by a two-run home run from Jaff Decker. The home run was Decker's seventh of the year.
Las Vegas got one run back in the third when Wilmer Flores hit an RBI double off the left field wall. Gregorio Petit's two-out single in the fourth scored Decker from first base and extend Tucson's lead to 6-2. The 51s cut the score to 6-4 in the fifth with back-to-back RBI singles from Francisco Pena and den Dekker. Brandon Hicks' solo home run in the ninth brought Las Vegas within one of Tucson, but Miles Mikolas was able to get the final batter to pop up to second for the final out of the game.
Brad Brach pitched two scoreless innings of relief for his third win of the season, while Mikolas picked up his 19th save. Jacob deGrom was charged with his first loss after surrendering eight hits, six runs and one walk in five innings. O'Sullivan went the first 4.2 innings and allowed eight hits, four runs, while striking out six in a no decision.
Tim Hagerty is the play-by-play announcer for the Tucson Padres.
