When Tacoma's Manny Martinez made the first out of the seventh inning on a sacrifice bunt Thursday night, the Tigers were holding on to a one-run lead over the Salt Lake Buzz.
About a half hour and two pitching changes later - in the same half inning - Martinez hit into a double play for the second and third outs. In between the Martinez plate appearances all eight of the other Tiger hitters had rounded the bases and touched home plate. The eight-run inning-that-wouldn't-end was the difference in the 12-6 Tacoma rout of Salt Lake at Franklin Quest Field.Two days ago Salt Lake was riding high after having won six of its previous seven games. The Buzz even owned the best record in the Pacific Coast League. Consecutive home losses, both of which included a pair of costly Salt Lake fielding errors, has manager Scott Ullger tearing his hair out, however.
"You can hit all you want, but unless you can catch the ball you're not going to win," Ullger said. "All we can do is keep working at it. If that doesn't work we'll find somebody else and maybe they can catch the ball."
With Tacoma leading 4-3, Tiger catcher Dean Borrelli opened the seventh with a hit followed by a bunt single by Fausto Cruz. Martinez sacrificed the runners to second and third. The next eight Tacoma hitters reached base safely - four with base hits, three on walks and one on a costly two-base error by Buzz third baseman Jeff Carter. Scott Lydy hit a two-run double to left, Borrelli drove in two on his second hit of the inning and Cruz added an RBI single.
"Our bats are finally starting to wake up," said Tacoma manager Casey Parsons, whose team pounded out 16 hits. "The old cliche' that hitting is contagious is somewhat true. As a club we're starting to put some runs on the board and that's really important in this offensive-minded league."
The Tigers and Buzz now have identical 14-13 records, although Tacoma has beaten Salt Lake in five of the seven head-to-head matchups, having already clinched the first-half series with one game to play.
Doug Johns gave up three runs in six innings to earn the win and improve to 1-1 on the year. Buzz starter Oscar Munoz fell to 1-4 with the loss.
Salt Lake, which entered the game with the top team batting average in the PCL (.302), had 14 hits on the night.
"We are swinging the bats well," Ullger said. "We're as good of a hitting team as there is in the PCL, but if you keep giving the other teams four, five or six outs and inning it doesn't matter."
Tacoma got off to a fast start scoring a pair of runs on three hits and an error in the first inning. Martinez hit a solo homer in the second to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. The Buzz scored twice in the second - on an RBI double by Dan Masteller and a run-scoring ground out from Dennis Hocking - and once in the third - on Bernardo Brito's 23rd RBI of the year - to knot the game 3-3. Eric Fox hit a solo homer in the sixth, his second round-tripper in as many games, to give Tacoma a one-run lead before the eight-run outburst in the seventh.
Salt Lake added three runs on four consecutive hits in the bottom of the eighth, but it wasn't nearly enough.
The two teams will close out the four-game series tonight. LHP Dana Allison (1-4, 6.33 ERA) will start for the Tigers with LHP Shawn Bryant (1-3, 5.92) on the hill for the Buzz.
BUZZ BRIEFS - Masteller twisted his ankle on the basepaths in the second inning and will likely be out for at least two days. That leaves the Buzz with only 19 players available and just one substitute for the position players. Outfielder Marty Cordova, who has been on the disabled list all year, will rejoin the team next week in Las Vegas and a pitcher will likely be added to the team even sooner . . . The Buzz have three of the top four hitters in the PCL at present. Mike Durant leads the league with a .422 batting average, while fellow Buzz catcher Tim McIntosh is third in the PCL (.381) and infielder Brian Raabe is fourth (.369).