And the wins keep on coming for the streaking Salt Lake Bees.
Monday night they picked up their 30th victory of the season with an 8-3 win over the Round Rock Express at Franklin Covey Field.
Salt Lake's fifth consecutive triumph upped minor league baseball's best record to 30-7. The Bees won their eighth series of year.
"It's great ... It's unexpected, obviously. You don't expect to have this kind of record at this point and time," said Salt Lake manager Bobby Mitchell. "It's something we're enjoying."
The Bees are off to the best start in franchise history. They've reached the 30-win plateau in record fashion — shattering the previous franchise best of doing so in 47 outings, a mark held by teams in 2000 and 2001.
"They guys have just stepped up and done a great job to fill in when we needed it," said Mitchell.
In their latest outing, which followed a 14-inning victory the night before, the Bees benefitted from good pitching and timely hitting.
Starter David Austen (1-1) picked up the win, scattering eight hits in 7 2/3 innings. Jeff Kennard provided scoreless relief.
They were backed by 13 hits.
Salt Lake scored five runs in a wild sixth inning to pull away. Adam Morrissey got things started with an RBI single on a line drive. Dee Brown and Brandon Wood later drove in two runs apiece — on a double and single, respectively.
The outburst gave the Bees a commanding 8-2 lead.
Round Rock's lone response the rest of the way was a single run sacrifice fly in the seventh. Express manager Dave Clark wasn't around to see it. He was ejected in the sixth for arguing with third base umpire Barry Larson.
Round Rock's only lead came in the first on a Mark Saccomanno two-run homer.
Salt Lake pulled even in the bottom in the inning when Brad Coon, who led off with a double, and Brown, who reached on a single, both scored on a throwing error by the Express.
With the score knotted at 2-2, the Bees pulled ahead in the fourth on a run-scoring groundout by Gary Patchett =96 knocking in Ryan Budde, who opened the inning with a double and advanced to third on a single by Adam Pavkovich.
The series concludes today at 10:30 a.m. — an early start time to accommodate approximately 9,500 school children for "Prevention Awareness Kids Day."
Salt Lake RHP Shane Loux (5-2, 3.20 ERA) and Round Rock RHP Josh Miller (2-0, 3.86 ERA) are the scheduled starters.
BEE LINES: Monday's attendance was 3,884 ... Infielder Matt Brown was called up by the Angels in place of Brandon Wood, who was sent back to Salt Lake ... Pitcher Rafael Rodriguez was taken off the inactive list and sent to Arkansas (AA) ... Former Layton High catcher Derrick Thomas is back with the Bees after a stint in extended spring training. He's switching spots with catcher Alberto Rosario.
E-mail: facer@desnews.com