It didn't take long for Albuquerque to get things heated up at the plate. Trying to cool the Isotopes down turned out to be a losing battle for the Salt Lake Bees.
Buoyed by four home runs and 14 hits, Albuquerque outlasted the Bees 9-7 in 12 innings on Tuesday night — handing Salt Lake only its second loss at Franklin Covey Field this season.
Paul Hoover got Albuquerque's bats sizzling with a lead-off blast past left field in the second inning for the team's first run of the game. The Isotopes catcher then delivered the knockout blow in the 12th when he dumped the ball over the left field fence once again to send in the go-ahead runs.
For Salt Lake manager Bobby Mitchell, trying to keep Albuquerque from knocking it out of the park was not a simple task.
"You try not to make the mistakes we made pitching wise," Mitchell said. "But when you do, any team is going to take advantage of it and that's what happened."
The Isotopes especially took advantage in the sixth when Tagg Bozied and Chris Barnwell helped cap off a rally from a three-run deficit.
Bozied evened the score at 5-5 after popping a fly ball over the left field fence. Barnwell then put Albuquerque up two when his line drive homer — again to left field — brought both him and Dante Brinkley home.
The Bees finally erased that 7-5 deficit in the bottom of the eighth when Gary Patchett also drove a fly ball over the left field fence to send himself and Ryan Budde home.
Patchett said that the team didn't look at Albuquerque's homers as a bad sign for them simply because every team has games where they can't miss at the plate — no matter what is thrown at them.
"At this level, guys can hit good pitches too," Patchett said. "Guys can get thrown some really good pitches and still get base hits."
After yielding a pair of early runs, Salt Lake quickly evened the score at 2-2 in the third inning when Morales doubled to center field, bouncing the ball off of the wall. His blast to center bought plenty of time for Brad Coon and Freddy Sandoval to each produce runs.
Freddy Sandoval added a double of his own in the fourth to give Salt Lake its first lead. Sandoval blasted the ball to the corner of left field, driving in Coon and Gary Patchett to put the Bees on top 4-2.
Morales then smacked the ball past the outstretched glove of left fielder John Gall, increasing Salt Lake's lead to three at 5-2.
It only made sense for Morales to provide an early spark for the Bees' offense. Only a night earlier, he conjured up a pair of leadoff home runs to fuel a 5-1 victory over Nashville.
BEELINES: Attendance was 4,153 . . . Infielder Matt Brown was named the Angels' Minor League player of the month for April. During April, Brown hit .425 with 11 doubles, six triples, three homers and 23 runs batted in.
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com