Rain clouds were threatening, but — like the game itself — the night turned out just about perfectly for the Salt Lake Bees in the home opener for the team with the new, old-school name at Franklin Covey Field.
The Bees — formerly the Stingers, but still the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim — got early clutch hitting by some promising newcomers to go along with a fine pitching performance by a Salt Lake veteran to down the Portland Beavers 6-1. Salt Lake, fresh off an eight-game road trip to start the season, improved to 5-4 with the victory.
"Those first two innings were about as exciting as it can get offensively," said Bees manager Brian Harper.
It didn't take long for new double-play tandem Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick to make their mark.
Aybar, a 22-year-old shortstop, led off the game by sending the first live pitch he'd ever seen at Franklin Covey Field over the rightfield fence.
"You know, (Aybar) has that in there. For a smaller, fast guy, he has some pop," said Harper. "He's going to hit some home runs. That was exciting. That's about as good as it gets — first-pitch home run in the home opener."
Kendrick, a 22-year-old second baseman, kept his season-long hitting streak alive with a two-run shot over the leftfield fence off Portland starter Seth Etherton in the second inning.
"We got some fastballs that were out over the plate a little bit and we capitalized on them," said Kendrick.
The two newcomers had the long balls, but Salt Lake veteran pitcher Chris Bootcheck was just as important to the victory. Bootcheck, now in his fifth season in Salt Lake, gave up no runs on just three hits in five innings.
"Boot threw the ball very well," said Harper. "We knew we only have five innings out of him, so it was nice to get out to a little bit of a lead."
Bootcheck, after pitching out of the bullpen for the Angels in spring training, is being eased back into a starters role with the Bees.
"I'll get better as I get my pitch count up," said Bootcheck.
The Bees did all of their scoring in the first two innings. After Aybar's homer to open the game, both Mike Napoli and Kendry Morales drove in runs with two-out singles in the first. Aybar had a run-scoring single in the second inning, followed by Kendrick's two-run homer to finish the Bees' scoring.
Portland, meanwhile, was never able to mount a rally. The Beavers scored one run in three innings off reliever Kasey Olenberger before 20-year-old Rafael Cruz Chavez — who just last season was pitching for the Orem Owls — closed the door with a three-up, three-down ninth.
"We knew were were going to have to get four innings out of the bullpen and they did a good job," said Harper.
The game — like all the games so far this season — was played without the usual umpires, who are on strike. Replacement umps were used.
The umpire strike is the result of an impasse between the Professional Baseball Umpire Corp., which manages umpires for Minor League Baseball, and the Association of Minor League Umpires, the union that represents the umps. Their labor contract expired after last season, and the union is seeking higher pay and better per diem payments.
The series will continue today at 6:30 p.m. at Franklin Covey Field. Kevin Gregg (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is scheduled to be on the mound for the Bees against Portland's Eric Junge (0-0, 4.15)
BEES WAX: Bootcheck now needs two wins to pass LaTroy Hawkins as the all-time leader in Salt Lake Buzz/Stingers/Bees franchise history ... In addition to a new name and new uniforms, the team unveiled a new mascot on Friday night — a bee named "Bumble." ... Several on strike umpires were outside the stadium protesting prior to the game ... A crowd of 9,511 was on hand for the game — and the post-game fireworks.
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com