On a chilly Wednesday night, the bats were red-hot at Franklin Covey Field.
Salt Lake and Albuquerque combined for 25 runs and 33 hits despite temperatures in the 40s all evening. Unfortunately for the Stingers, they were on the losing end of a 17-8 decision, despite getting 15 hits of their own.
The loss dropped the Stingers back to .500 at 16-16, while the Isotopes improved to 18-16.
Albuquerque exploded for 13 runs in the final three innings, including five in both the eighth and ninth.
The Stingers actually led 5-4 after six innings, but the Isotopes came back with three runs in the seventh and five in the eighth to turn the game into a rout.
Larry Sutton, the hottest player in the PCL, crushed a three-run homer over the right field fence in the seventh to knock in Matt Treanor and Derek Wathan, who had both walked. Walks were a problem for Salt Lake pitchers all night as they allowed nine for the game.
Then in the eighth, the Isotopes tacked on five more runs as Padgett started things off with his second homer of the night and Treanor added an RBI double.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Stingers rallied with three runs on five hits with a double by Casey Smith, called up from Arkansas the day before, the key hit of the inning.
However, any thoughts of a Stinger comeback were dashed in the ninth when the Isotopes added five more runs on six singles and a double.
Clint Sodowsky (1-0) picked up the win for Albuquerque, while Scott Dunn dropped to 1-1 with the loss for Salt Lake. The Isotopes opened the scoring with three runs in the second on a two-run homer by Padgett and an RBI single by Wilson Valdez.
With Albuquerque up 4-1, the Stingers scored four in the bottom of the fourth as Todd Gregario smacked a three-run homer after Barry Wesson and Wil Nieves singled.
GAME NOTES: The series continues tonight at 6:30 with Salt Lake's Brandon Emmanuel (0-1) set to pitch against Albuquerque's Michael Tejera (2-0) . . . Former Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden, sitting behind the third base dugout, made good use of his glove by snagging a foul ball in the second inning . . . The game started 15 minutes late because of a brief rainstorm just before the scheduled start . . . The attendance of 3,042 was only slightly better than the previous night's 2,809, which was the lowest in franchise history . . . The Stingers were charged with three balks, two by starter Jason Middlebrook and one by Mitch Arnold . . . The 3-hour 22-minute game was the longest nine-inning Stingers game of the season.
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