Comeback victory kicks off 51s homestand

In a competition of slugging first basemen, Las Vegas’ two-headed monster trumped Portland’s gargantuan beast Thursday night.
Randy Ruiz and Brett Harper combined to go 7-for-8 and brought the 51s back from a 3-0 deficit for a 4-3 win over Kyle Blanks and the Beavers in the opener of a four-game series at Cashman Field.
The mammoth Blanks, who stands 6’6” and weighs almost 300 pounds, gave the Beavers the early lead with a titanic three-run home run off of 51s starter Davis Romero with two outs in the third inning.
The 51s scratched back, however, scoring single runs in the fourth and sixth innings. In the seventh, Ruiz stepped up with a runner on second after Beavers reliever John Hudgins hit shortstop Russ Adams in the foot with a breaking ball and uncorked a wild pitch to put him on second. With two outs, Ruiz fouled off several good pitches from Hudgins before lining a pitch up the middle for a single that tied the game at 3-3.
"He threw me some fastballs, some curveballs, some sliders, some changeups, he must have thrown everything he had, but I was just battling and fouling stuff off, and fortunately I hit the ball, put it up the middle and got us a run," Ruiz said.
51s manager Mike Basso said after the game that Ruiz and centerfielder Buck Coats deserve spots in the AAA All-Star Game, coming up in Portland on July 15.
"It would be nice. Last year, I missed it by a couple RBIs or something like that. If it happens, it happens," Ruiz said of the possibility.
With the score still tied in the bottom of the eighth inning, Harper, the designated hitter for Thursday night's game, led off with a line drive that skipped under the glove of Beavers centerfielder Drew Macias for a double. Jason Lane followed with a tough at-bat, fouling off multiple two-strike fastballs from Beavers pitcher Scott Patterson (2-2) before sending a groundball to College of Southern Nevada prospect Sean Kazmar at shortstop. When pinch-runner Jonathan Diaz took off for third, Kazmar tried to catch him and threw the ball into the Beavers’ dugout, scoring the eventual winning run.
Jonah Bayliss (6-2) pitched the eighth for the win and stayed in for the ninth, getting Portland 1-2-3 to close out the win for the 51s.
NOTES: You can vote for Ruiz, Coats and other 51s for the AAA All-Star Game here. ... Beavers starter Jeremy Hefner, called up from A ball before the game for his first start at AAA, pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on seven hits while striking out five. ... Fathers and sons are invited to play catch on the field at Cashman before the Father's Day game on Sunday.