Record never concerned Arias

Las Vegas Stars center fielder Chris Prieto was batting in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night when a very loud thunderclap suddenly shook Cashman Field and sent many in the crowd of 2,989 scurrying for cover.

A few moments later, the stadium was rocked again by another big bang, this time courtesy of Stars' third baseman George Arias.

Arias lined a Bob Milacki pitch deep over the fence in left-center for his second home run of the game and, more importantly, his 33rd homer of the season, breaking the Stars' record for home runs in a season of 32 set by Kevin McReynolds in 1983.

Arias' homer gave the Stars a 6-2 lead. But Las Vegas was hardly in a celebrating mood afterward as the bullpen trio of Al Newman, Will Cunnane and Roberto Ramirez was torched for six runs in the ninth by New Orleans in a 8-6 loss.

"It feels pretty good to break any record, but I'm not a selfish player and I'd rather have a win," Arias said. "The record, it's a good feeling, but we lost."

Arias tied the record in the fourth inning when he hit a towering drive off a John Halama pitch that just barely cleared the fence down the left field line.

"On the first one, I got kind of lucky and it went over," Arias said. "I thought it was a popup but it just kept going. It's a hitter's park here, so you never know."

There wasn't any doubt on his record-breaker, however.

"I hit that one pretty well," Arias admitted. "It was a fastball in and I got ahold of it."

Arias now has 33 home runs and a Pacific Coast League-leading 106 RBIs. With 32 games still left on the Stars' schedule, those numbers figure to become even more impressive.

"I'm just doing whatever it takes to get back to the big leagues," Arias said. "If I play hard, stay healthy and put up the numbers, the rest will take care of itself."

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