SALT LAKE CITY — After dropping two games on Sunday, the Salt Lake Bees squandered a six-run lead then teetered dangerously on the edge Monday night before rallying to defeat Tucson 7-6 in 13 innings.
And the winning play? It came on a detached equipment call. Really.
With Bees' runners on second and third and nobody out, Tucson pitcher Greg Burke threw a pitch in the dirt. Catcher Guillermo Quiroz blocked the ball, but used his mask to stop it as it was rolling away.
Just like that, the game was over.
"I've never seen a game end like that," Salt Lake manager Keith Johnson said. "You can't use your equipment to aid you in fielding, and the umpire ruled that he used his mask to stop the ball. That's just one of those little things that proves you've never seen it all."
Jeremy Moore, who doubled off the top of the left-field wall to lead off the bottom of the 13th inning, scored the winning run on the play.
The Bees jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the fifth inning—thanks to a three-run blast by Jeff Baisley and two two-out RBI singles by Paul McAnulty—but couldn't hold on as the Padres climbed back to tie the game in the top of the seventh.
The Bees went without a hit from the sixth until the 12th innings and were caught stealing twice during that same span.
Tuscon's Everth Cabrera went 3-for-5 with two walks, two runs scored and a steal, while teammate Logan Forsythe went 2-for-6 with two doubles and four RBIs. The two were seemingly on base all night, yet the Bees' relief pitchers came through when they needed it.
Tucson stranded eight runners in the final six innings and advanced a runner to third base four times without scoring once. Salt Lake's Jeremy Berg and Horacio Ramirez, who combined to throw 41?3 innings of scoreless ball, provided clutch late-inning pitching that eventually won the game for the Bees.
"The bullpen did a really good job," Johnson said. "We've played a bunch of games the past few days, so for those guys to give us quality innings like that was huge."
Starter Matt Shoemaker was solid in the no-decision, loggin 52?3 innings and allowing only two runs. He struck out two and gave up five hits.
email: mpayne@desnews.com