Buzz 7, Redhawks 4One night earlier, second baseman Todd Walker was a minor contributor to Salt Lake's 12-4 offensive showcase. His one hit wasn't even an afterthought to the 11 hits Salt Lake amassed against the Redhawks.
But Saturday, Walker provided enough heroics with one hit to push the Buzz past Oklahoma, 7-4, Saturday at Franklin Covey Field.
Tied at 4, the Buzz had runners on first and third, thanks to an error on the Oklahoma third baseman. Redhawk starter Ryan Glynn opted to intentionally walk Doug Mientkiewicz, hoping to get Walker to hit into a double play.
It didn't happen.
Glynn was replaced by reliever Jon Johnson, who served Walker a high curveball worthy of a two-RBI single that sent 13,195 fans to their feet and the Buzz home with their third-straight home victory.
"It's a good situation when they intentionally walk the guy in front of you," said Walker. "I was lucky enough to get deep enough in the count to get a feel for his pitches."
Walker finished the night 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Salt Lake (39-24) struggled early, handing Oklahoma its first two runs of the game on a pair of Buzz errors -- two boots from the left side of the infield.
Total futility for the inning: two errors, a wild pitch and an Oklahoma single up the middle that nearly took Buzz starter J.C. Romero's head off.
It wasn't pretty.
Casey Blake, who recorded the second error of the game when a ground ball slipped through his legs, made up for the miscue with a double in the third. Trailing 3-2, Blake yanked a double to deep left to score Mientkiewicz and Walker. Chad Allen, who was on first, attempted to score for the two-run margin, but was tagged out at the plate on a relay throw from Redhawk second baseman Jon Shave.
"We got some timely hits tonight," Buzz manager Phil Roof said of Walker and Blake. Salt Lake's cause was also helped by a bases-clearing double by Jeff Smith in the second that tied the game at 2.
"Whatever the need is, someone comes through. That's a pretty good feeling," Roof added.
The Buzz victory came against Oklahoma's ace Glynn, who was called up to Texas on Monday to start against the Dodgers. Glynn faced Los Angeles' Kevin Brown and threw eight innings of shutout ball for a 2-0 victory.
But Glynn wouldn't experience such luck Saturday, as Salt Lake took advantage of five hits to score six runs.
"He's one of the toughest pitchers we've faced," said Roof.
Salt Lake committed its third error of the day that would eventually contribute to another Redhawk lead, 4-3.
Buzz reliever Brent Stentz got the decision on the mound for his first victory of the season.
BEE LINES: Mario Valdez had his season-high 16-game hitting streak snapped Saturday, finishing 0-for-4 at the plate. Valdez was two hits away from tying the Buzz all-time hit streak record, held by three former Buzzmen.
E-mail: cpett@desnews.com