SALT LAKE CITY — Falling behind early is becoming a bad habit that the Salt Lake Bees can't seem to break. Such a habit is proving costly in the win column.
After surrendering a pair of runs in the first inning, the Bees lost to Colorado Springs for the third time in four games, falling 5-2 on Tuesday evening at Spring Mobile Ballpark.
The Sky Sox wasted no time piling up several hits right away. Four different batters reached base in the first inning, and Dexter Fowler and Matt Miller each eventually scored runs to give Colorado Springs a quick 2-0 advantage.
One of the most frustrating aspects of that spurt for Salt Lake manager Bobby Mitchell is that his team needed just one more out to close things out before Fowler and Miller came across the plate.
"It seems like we just can't get out of that inning sometimes," Mitchell said. "We get two outs and then they scored both their runs with two outs. And that's kind of what the trend has been throughout most of the season."
While Salt Lake worked to find even a hint of an offensive spark, Colorado Springs took a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Mike Paulk drove home Omar Quintanilla on a sacrifice fly.
The Bees finally came to life briefly in the bottom of the inning. Terry Evans led things off by blasting a solo home run over the left-field fence to put Salt Lake on the board. Jeff Mathis followed suit with another solo homer to left field to cut the deficit to 3-2.
That ended up being as good as it got for the Bees at the plate. Left-handed pitcher Kurt Birkins picked up his third win for the Sky Sox, in part because he struck out five batters. And the three relief pitchers that followed combined for three strikeouts while allowing just two hits.
"We haven't had too many wins when lefties start," Mitchell said. "I don't know what it is. We see enough of them. It seems like we would be better. We didn't seem to get anything going offensively."
Salt Lake's offensive struggles gave Colorado Springs more than enough time to build enough of a cushion around its lead to prevent a potential Bees rally from developing.
The Sky Sox pushed the lead to 4-2 in the sixth after Michael McKenry doubled to center field and then came home when Travis Metcalf also doubled to center.
Colorado Springs tacked on its final run an inning later on another sacrifice fly — this time from Quintanilla — that brought Fowler home.
The Bees will hit the road for a four-game series this weekend at Reno. Their first game against the Aces is Thursday at 8:05 p.m.
BEES NOTES: Starting catcher Hank Conger left the game in the third inning after a foul ball hit him in the arm. Conger's arm was bruised and in a protective cast after the game. He will likely have it X-rayed today. ... Will Smith (1-4) struck out four batters but also allowed four runs on nine hits in his first career appearance against Colorado Springs. ... Attendance was 6,628.
e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com