Dan Naulty doesn't make a habit of walking under ladders, breaking mirrors or having black cats cross his path. His uniform number isn't 13.
Yet for some reason the Salt Lake Buzz pitcher has been unlucky. Take Tuesday night, for instance. Naulty was on top of his game. His slider was working, his fastball had snap and he had good control. In fact, the 6-foot-6 right-hander had the best outing of the season for a Buzz starter.Yet Naulty didn't earn a victory. The visiting Calgary Cannons scored six runs off reliever Gus Gandarillas in the 10th inning to beat the Buzz 8-2. Calgary improved its PCL Northern Division-leading record to 14-8, while the Buzz's three game winning streak came to an end and they fell to 12-12.
Naulty gave up just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in eight innings.
"We've had some well-pitched games by our starters, but that was by far the best effort by a starter," said Buzz manager Phil Roof of Naulty's performance. "He made some quality pitches tonight when he had to."
Naulty, however, hasn't won a baseball game in nearly a year - and is winless above the Single A level. He was 0-7 in AA Nashville last season and is now 0-3 for the AAA Buzz.
Naulty feels he's had a few bad breaks, but he's trying to maintain a good attitude about it. "If I keep on throwing like I am, I'm bound to get a win here sooner or later," Naulty said. "I'm trying not to worry about it."
Roof and Buzz pitching coach Rick Anderson were in Nashville last season, where Naulty was 0-7, yet begged the Twins to advance him to the AAA level this season.
"He's going to be a quality pitcher for us this year," Roof said.
Anderson agrees. "He's been throwing the ball well for us all year. He just hasn't been catching the breaks," Anderson said. "It's nice to get wins, but he's throwing the ball well and that's what we look at."
While Naulty was mowing down Cannons, Calgary starter Lee Hancock was mowing down the Buzz. Left fielder Riccardo Ingram hit a first inning homer to left, but that was all the scoring Salt Lake would do against Hancock. He gave up only three hits and one run in eight innings.
The Cannons broke the 1-1 tie in the ninth when Micah Franklin sent a Gandarillas pitch deep over the fence in center. The Buzz knotted the game and sent it to an extra inning in the bottom half of the ninth when Rich Becker's sacrifice fly to left scored Ingram from third.
The Cannons broke the game open by scoring six runs in the 10th off Gandarillas with the big blow being a three-run homer by first baseman Kevin Young.
The Buzz and Cannons will play the second game of their four-game set tonight at 7. RHP Mike Trombley (0-3, 6.49 ERA) will be on the mound for the Buzz against Calgary RHP John Hope (3-0, 2.25 ERA).
BUZZ BRIEFS: Outfielder Juan De La Rosa sat out the second straight game with strained ligament in his left hand. He is listed as day to day . . . Ingram, who is fourth in the PCL with a .376 batting average, had two more hits Tuesday and scored both of Salt Lake's runs. Ingram has hit safely in 21 of 23 games he's played this season . . . Outfielder Steve Hazlett is in the midst of a major slump from the plate. He's hitless in his last eight games (0-for-26). "(Hazlett's) pressing too hard," said Roof.