Tom Koehler, Scott Cousins help propel New Orleans Zephyrs past Las Vegas 51s, 5-2 - NOLA.com

Baseball has a time-tested formula for victory: quality starting pitching and timely hitting. On Tuesday afternoon, Zephyrs starting pitcher Tom Koehler and leadoff hitter Scott Cousins applied the formula to perfection in a 5-2 victory over Las Vegas in front of a crowd of 8,121 at Zephyr Field.

JOHN MCCUSKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE The Zephyrs' Chris Aguila and Scott Cousins celebrate Cousins' two-run homer in the fifth inning against Las Vegas on Tuesday at Zephyr Field. Cousins drove in three runs.

Koehler won his fourth consecutive start, and center fielder Scott Cousins provided all the run support Koehler needed, extending his season’s best hit-streak to seven games while knocking in three runs.

Cousins’ hitting was hot before a two-week stint on the disabled list with a sprained wrist. He has hit safely in nine of his past 10 games, batting .309 with two home runs and 10 RBIs.

He knocked in the Zephyrs’ first run in the third inning. In his next at-bat, in the fifth, he hit a two-run home run into the pool in right field, sending an enthusiastic fan to the bottom to scoop up the souvenir.

The home run gave the Zephyrs the lead for good and sparked a four-run inning.

“I’ve been seeing the ball good â€" keep it simple and hit it hard,” Cousins said about the home run he hit on a 3-0 count. “If you figure out that they aren’t pitching around you, you get to 3-0 with a runner in scoring position, that’s the best pitch you are going to see during that at-bat.”

Las Vegas starter Scott Richmond (3-3) was pulled after five innings trailing 5-2. He allowed eight hits, struck out five and walked four.

Koehler (4-3) allowed five hits, struck out five and walked two, allowing the only two runs. He has 31 strikeouts in 24 innings in his unbeaten streak.

Zephyrs Manager Ron Hassey said he was impressed with Koehler’s outing.

“He did an outstanding job keeping guys off balance and having some quick innings,” Hassey said. “One of his problems is throwing a lot of pitches in one inning. But he did a real good job today of getting a lot of quick groundball outs.”

Zephyrs pitching coach Charlie Corbell credits Koehler’s dedication and intense bullpen sessions, where the two have worked to calm his delivery, for the turnaround after an 0-3 start.

“He’s got a delivery that gets a little busy sometimes,” Corbell said. “But he’s a professional and he works real hard at it. When he gets things together, he’s got the makings of three-plus-pitches, maybe four. And when you can command that, like he did today, it makes it real tough on hitters.”

Even when the Zephyrs’ defense stumbled for a moment, Koehler remained firmly in control. The 51s pulled ahead 2-1 in the fifth. With runners on first and second, Matt Dominguez fielded a sharply hit grounder and appeared to touch third base for the out, but fumbled the ball before throwing to first. Although Dominguez was charged with the error and the runner was called safe at third, his throw arrived in time to get the out.

“I thought he was taking it out of the glove after he had stepped on the bag,” said Hassey, who left the dugout to question the call. “But I can also see why (the umpire) made the call he did. Koehler did a good job of pitching around that play.”

Dan Jennings replaced Koehler after he waked the first two hitters in the seventh. Jennings pitched two scoreless innings before closer Sandy Rosario earned his league-leading 11th save in 11 tries.

UP NEXT: The Zephyrs have an off day before traveling to face Colorado Springs at 12:05 p.m. on Thursday. Zephyrs right-hander J.D. Martin (2-2, 6.83 ERA) will face right-hander Edgar Gonzalez (2-1, 4.00).