Rainiers 9, Buzz 1It had the makings of a sour situation -- like drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth.
With the combination of Salt Lake starter Dan Perkins battling the flu, and Tacoma first baseman Brian Lesher being a Buzz killer, Salt Lake seemed to have two strikes against it before even taking a swing.
Lesher, who was hitting just .218 for the year, but .411 against the Buzz in their first four games, went a perfect 5-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs to lift the second-place Rainiers to a 9-1 victory Tuesday night at Franklin Covey Field.
"There's not excuses, but Perk (Dan Perkins) was sick all day yesterday, but he came in and wanted to pitch," Salt Lake Buzz manager Phil Roof said. "As you could see, the energy level wasn't there, the legs weren't there. I couldn't get a guy warmed up quick enough to get him off the hook."
The Rainiers (12-12) scored eight runs in the top of the second inning -- fueled by three-run homers by Robert Machado and Lesher. Starter Ken Cloude made them stand in surrendering six hits and one earned run as the Rainiers moved to .500 for the first time since being 1-1 when they beat Salt Lake the second game of the year in Tacoma.
Add in Lesher's perfect night he is now hitting .545 (12-22) with four homers and nine RBIs against the first-place Buzz.
At the same time he raised his season average 47 points to .265.
"Anyone in this league that has seen him knows he's not a .218 hitter," Tacoma manager Dave Myers said. "He had a week there where he really struggled, but he's a guy that gets on base and gets big hits for us."
Cloude had only one blemish -- a lead-off homer to Chad Allen.
By comparison, Buzz starter Perkins allowed eight runs, seven of them earned, in giving up eight hits to drop to 2-3.
The Rainiers gained a game on Salt Lake (16-10) in the Northern Division standings.
Lesher started the decisive second-inning rally with a single. Rich Butler struck out before Chris Snopek singled to set up the Machado three-run homer.
Jose Flores walked and went to second on a error before Mike Murphy knocked him in with a single. Mike Neill drew a walk, Anthony Sanders singled in a run then Lesher belted his three-run homer (his sixth HR of the year).
Tacoma's other run came in the seventh on Lesher's solo homer.
Cloude also struck out five and walked three in moving to 3-2. Relievers Kevin Hodges and Ryan Franklin allowed just four hits the rest of the way.
After the eight runs in the second, Tacoma's other run came in the seventh on Lesher's solo homer.
Salt Lake relievers Gus Gandarillas, Fred Rath, Jack Cressend and Alan Mahaffey allowed only five more hits in the final seven innings and the one run.
Besides Lesher, Machado had two hits and three RBIs for the Rainiers. Allen had two hits as did Javier Valentin.
The series continues Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. at Franklin Covey Field when Salt Lake's Jason Ryan (2-0, 3.67) opposes 6-foot-11 lefty flame thrower Ryan Anderson (3-1, 2.33).
BEE LINES: Buzz infielder Dan Cey officially retired Sunday . . . Because of the Grizz and the Jazz playoff games, Wednesday's Buzz game can be heard on Disney 860 AM.. . . Salt Lake's John Barnes is third in the PCL in hitting with a .377 average, while Mario Valdez is fourth at .373 and Jay Canizaro is eighth at .362. As the team, the Buzz lead the PCL at a .298 clip. . . . Canizaro also leads the league in RBIs with 31.
You can reach Jay Hinton by e-mail at jhinton@desnews.com