Salt Lake Bees: Buzzing Bees keeping heavy foot on the gas
In the end, however, big hits once again proved to be the difference as Salt Lake defeated Portland 5-3 on Monday afternoon.
A lead-off homer by Freddy Sandoval and a two-out RBI double by Brandon Wood in the bottom of the eighth inning capped all scoring in a wild four-game series that featured 110 hits and 61 runs.
"This is exciting because we weren't so far ahead and it was good to come back," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell, whose squad won for the third time in four games against the Beavers and improved to 11-1 overall. "They just kept battling."
Trailing 2-1 after the seventh-inning stretch, Salt Lake took its first lead with a two-out rally. A single by Bobby Wilson was followed by a two-run homer from Sean Rodriguez.
Portland, however, pulled even in the eighth on a run-scoring hit by Brian Myrow to set the stage for Salt Lake's game-winning heroics in the bottom of the inning.
Sandoval put the Bees back on top with a powerful swing of the bat.
"I was just looking for a good pitch to hit," said Sandoval, who actually thought about bunting on the first pitch. "All you can do is put a good swing on the ball and hope good things happen."
Sandoval acknowledged that Salt Lake's confidence increased when reliever Adam Bass came into the game. The Bees scored four runs over the last two innings to come from behind and win.
The Beavers, though, were never able to pull too far ahead. Salt Lake ace Nick Adenhart weathered an off-night featuring four hits, four walks and two earned runs over six innings.
"I thought he battled without his best stuff," said Mitchell, who noted that Adenhart was a bit inconsistent in the strike zone but made pitches when he had to — getting out of some jams with a good change-up.
Alex Serrano and Jose Arredondo picked up the win and save, respectively, out of the bullpen.
The Beavers took a 1-0 lead in the third on a single by Oscar Robles and a 2-1 advantage on a run-scoring hit by Edgar Gonzalez in the sixth. Salt Lake separated the scores with a run on a bases-loaded wild pitch by Geer in the fourth.
The Bees continue their homestand with four games against the Las Vegas 51s, the top affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Salt Lake RHP Shane Loux (2-0, 0.71 ERA) and Las Vegas RHP Jon Meloan (1-0, 2.70 ERA) are the scheduled starters.
GAME NOTES: Attendance was 3,659 ... Salt Lake finished with nine hits — snapping a streak of six straight double-figure contests ... Matt Brown went 0-for-3. He had hits in eight consecutive games.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com
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