Baby Cakes score early, often to beat Aviators
Right-hander Cody Poteet notched his first Triple-A victory as the New Orleans Baby Cakes beat the Aviators 11-4 Thursday night before 8,059 at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Poteet, who had no decisions for New Orleans in his previous five starts, went seven innings, allowing four runs, all earned, on six hits. He struck out five and walked one.
The Aviators (63-47) touched Poteet for a pair of solo homers — Sheldon Neuse’s 20th in the second inning and Mark Payton’s 21st in the fifth.
Payton went 4-for-4 with three doubles, raising his average to .337
New Orleans (57-51) got three hits apiece from Magneuris Sierra, Isan Diaz, Tyler Heineman and Gabriel Guerrero.
Sierra had a solo homer and Heineman and Guerrero each had two-run shots.
The Aviators lost a game to first-place El Paso in the Pacific Coast League’s Pacific Southern Division. El Paso, which won Thursday in Nashville, leads the Aviators by two games.