Warm welcome: 51s rally for victory in home opener

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Saturday, April 18, 2009 | 12:31 a.m.

Jim Mohr felt like he was back home in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mohr proudly sat three rows behind the Las Vegas 51s dugout Friday night for their home opener against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, cheering from start to finish for the top minor league affiliate of his favorite baseball team.

Las Vegas, playing its first home game as part of the Toronto Blue Jays organization, gave Mohr plenty of opportunities to rejoice.

Simply taking the field was enough for this homesick Canadian. The 51s’ 3-2 come-from-behind victory was icing on the cake.

“I’m loving this. I’m a die-hard Blue Jays fans," said Mohr, who moved to Las Vegas in January. “What a stroke of luck that they are playing here.”

Las Vegas was affiliated with the Los Angeles Dodgers for eight years through last season. But when the Dodgers bolted for Albuquerque, N.M., and Toronto needed a home from its Triple-A club after its agreement expired in Syracuse, N.Y., an unlikely match was made.

Syracuse opted to align with the Washington Nationals to end a 31-year run with the Blue Jays.

Las Vegas, which is a four-hour drive from heavily populated areas of Southern California, has long been a town of Dodgers supporters. Blue Jays loyalists like Mohr, however, are few and far between.

So, when the 23-year-old Mohr saw a Toronto fan walking to his seat at Cashman Field, a natural bond was struck. “There is another one of us,” said Mohr, pointing to the man’s gray Blue Jays hat.

Mohr was at the edge of his seat most of the night, especially in the top of the ninth inning with the 51s clinging to a one-run lead.

Eric Young Jr. singled with one out for Colorado Springs, stole second base and wound up at third after catcher J.P. Arencibia’s throw went into the outfield.

But closer Jeremy Accardo got Sky Sox designated hitter Mike McCoy to groundout and Matt Murton to line out to right fielder Jason Lane to end the game. Lane made a running catch to save the victory and give the 51s their second win in eight games this spring.

The players gave credit to the fans for helping them pull out the close victory. The announced attendance was 6,214.

“You want to play well for the people in the stands,” said Las Vegas first baseman Randy Ruiz, who hit his fourth home run of the season in the sixth inning. “They were awesome tonight. It was a great crowd to play in front of.”

Playing at home was a welcome change.

Las Vegas had one game snowed out, another game rained out and regularly played in temperatures lower than 40 degrees in going 1-6 to open the season at Colorado Springs, Colo., and Salt Lake City.

“Playing in the cold, that is the love of the game,” Ruiz said. “No matter what the weather is you have to adjust. It gets cold in the big leagues too and you still have to hit.”

Las Vegas (2-6) scored three runs in the sixth inning to erase a 2-0 deficit and win the first game of the eight-game home stand. Ruiz started the rally with a home run and Brett Harper plated Lane with a run-scoring double to even the game at two. Harper scored the game-winner on a RBI single from Russ Adams.

Accardo earned his second save of the season while reliever Brian Bullington (1-1) struck out four of the six batters he faced for the win.

It’s a win manager Mike Basso hopes will be the start of a good home stand.

“We needed some good things to happen to us and it did tonight,” Basso said. “It was a great atmosphere here tonight. It was fun to do something good in front of them and send them hope happy.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected].