Rain's been a rare and welcome sight in Salt Lake City this summer. Strange then, that it had such a dampening effect on the Buzz Friday night.
One of the summer's best downpours came along just minutes too late for the Buzz to capitalize on an opportunity to move to within a half game of the lead in the Pacific Coast League North as they lost a five-run lead and fell 9-7 to Phoenix - following a second, 40-minute delay.The whole spectacle took 4 hours and 45 minutes to wrap up, 113 of those minutes coming in rain delays.
The loss dropped the Buzz to 24-25, 11/2 games back of Vancouver.
The game resumed after the first, 73-minute delay, but just as play got started again, it began to rain again.
In the rain, Phoenix scored once and had one out and one on when the game was halted a second time. When it resumed a second time, the Buzz picked Steve Hecht off first and got a strikeout to end the eighth. But they couldn't get a baserunner among their final six outs, and Phoenix went down in three batters in the ninth.
Thursday's doubleheader victory over Colorado Springs had put the Buzz in contention, and they were up by five in the fourth inning with superb hitting by the first three men in their order - Jeff Carter, Brian Raabe and Rich Becker - who combined in the first four innings for six hits, five runs scored, two RBIs and three walks.
The Buzz were looking for all the world like a team that could hang in against the Firebirds, who were struggling in the pitching department.
The Buzz weren't overpowering on the mound, but starter Mike Misuraca seemed to have solved his first-inning problems and was at least getting the outs when he needed them until Phoenix erupted for four runs in the sixth and then got a tying and go-ahead run in the early seventh as the rain began.
The Buzz's Tim McIntosh doubled to open their seventh, but David McCarty's one-out comebacker to the mound spelled disaster. McCarty was thrown out at first, and McIntosh hesitated before trying to take third. He was tagged out to end the inning. Then the rains hit.
Had McIntosh stayed at second - or gotten safely to third - the score would have reverted to the last full inning - and a 7-6 Buzz win.
Instead, the rain had the final say before what was left of the 10,206 fans at Franklin Quest Field.
It was the Buzz's second baserunning miscue of the night. In the fifth, Scott Stahoviak was caught leaning off third, picked off for the third out of the inning.