Las Vegas spent much of Thursday night one hit away from changing the PCL championship game. The Aviators never found it when the game was within reach, stranding the bases loaded in the sixth before two defensive breakdowns in the eighth widened the distance between them and a second straight title.
Their late answer — a Darell Hernaiz triple followed by Brayan Buelvas’ two-run homer — briefly stirred Las Vegas Ballpark, but Oklahoma City retired the next six hitters to finish a 5-2 victory in the deciding game of the PCL Championship Series.
The Aviators were held to four hits by seven Comets pitchers. Their best chance to break through came while trailing 3-0 in the sixth, when Cole Conn and Hernaiz opened the inning with walks. Kyle Hurt entered and struck out Buelvas and Joey Meneses before walking Bryan Lavastida to fill the bases. Johnathan Rodríguez grounded out to end the threat.
It was the kind of moment manager Fran Reardon believed would suit Lavastida, whom he praised before the game for embracing postseason pressure.
“He almost thrives on having the position to perform when the team needs it most. And he provides his big energy, leadership, and he’s done a lot of great things the first two games.”
— Fran Reardon, Las Vegas Aviators Manager
Lavastida reached twice on walks, but Las Vegas went scoreless through seven innings and never gave its bullpen-day pitching plan much support.
Reardon had framed that plan as a natural choice with the championship at stake.
“But the bullpen has been the strength of our pitching staff and our team and has led us to a lot of wins this year. So it’s kind of fitting that we’re going into this stage with a bullpen game to decide the championship.”
— Fran Reardon, Las Vegas Aviators Manager
James Gonzalez opened with two innings and allowed the game’s first run in the second. Alek Thomas singled, and Ryan Fitzgerald drove a ball into the right-center-field gap, beyond Rodríguez’s reach and to the fence, for an RBI double.
Matt Sauer entered in the third and recorded only one out. Zach Ehrhard doubled, Josue De Paula singled and James Tibbs III walked before Mike Sirota sent a ground ball through the left side to score Ehrhard. Thomas followed with a sacrifice fly that brought home De Paula for a 3-0 lead. Sauer was charged with two earned runs.
The bullpen kept the game there through the middle innings. Jared Johnson worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings, and Hayden Juenger and Joe Rock kept Oklahoma City from adding to the lead.
That work left the Aviators within one swing until the eighth, when a two-out ground ball by Hyeseong Kim was not converted into an out. Ehrhard followed by driving a liner deep to left, off the wall, to score Kim. De Paula then sent a fly ball to the center-field track that glanced off Buelvas’ glove, bringing home Ehrhard and making it 5-0. Taylor Rashi was charged with both runs in 1 1/3 innings.
Las Vegas finally found its extra-base punch in the bottom half. Hernaiz drove a ball into the left-center gap and slid into third with a leadoff triple. Buelvas then lifted Seth Halvorsen’s offering to center, where Thomas retreated to the track and the fence before watching it clear the wall.
The homer cut the deficit to three with nobody out. It also became the Aviators’ last hit of the season.
Halvorsen retired the next three hitters, and Paul Gervase set down Las Vegas in order in the ninth. Buelvas finished 1-for-4 with the two-run homer, while Hernaiz went 1-for-3 with a walk, a triple and a run.
Oklahoma City’s early pressure, Las Vegas’ missed opening in the sixth and the costly eighth proved too much to overcome. A winner-take-all game between what Reardon called the league’s two best teams ended with the Aviators’ comeback arriving just after their margin for error had disappeared.