You don't want to be hurt. You don’t want to be hurt for 162 games, but that happens. I don't want that to happen to nobody, 'cause I would feel bad. You have to keep going. When you are ready, you go over there and play hard and try to help your team win it. – Erick Aybar
SALT LAKE CITY — It didn't take long for Erick Aybar to make his current rehab assignment with the Bees look like another day in the ballpark.
In just his second at-bat, Aybar slugged a two-run homer over the left-field wall that sparked a five-run inning to bring Salt Lake back into its game against Colorado Springs on Monday night.
"It's good for me to be in the lineup. ... I feel good now. I feel great," said Aybar.
The infielder finished the game 2 for 5 with a double, home run and a pair of RBIs in the Bees' 12-6 loss to the Sky Sox.
Aybar was placed on the 15-day disabled list back on April 10 with a bruised left heel, and the Los Angeles Angels announced Monday that Aybar would begin a rehab assignment with Salt Lake.
"That happens. You know what I mean?" said Aybar, referring to being injured. "You don't want to be hurt. You don’t want to be hurt for 162 games, but that happens. I don't want that to happen to nobody, 'cause I would feel bad. You have to keep going. When you are ready, you go over there and play hard and try to help your team win it."
Entering his eighth season with the Halos, Aybar boasts a .278 career batting average and is poised to return to Los Angeles as the all-around player he considers himself to be.
"I'm concentrating on everything," said Aybar. "Hitting, playing defense, bunting, everything, because that's my game."
Salt Lake manager Keith Johnson praised Aybar in his first game.
"It was good to see Erick Aybar out there making some plays, swinging the bat well and got through tonight OK, so we'll see where he is," Johnson said.
NOTEBOOK: In his debut with the Bees Monday evening, Kip Wells didn't exactly have the outing he was hoping for. Wells gave up seven earned runs on nine hits through two innings, including a two-run homer that left Salt Lake trailing 7-0.
SNYDER TRADED: A little over a month since signing with the Halos, catcher Chris Snyder was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles for RHP Rob Delaney. Snyder, who hit one of the Bees' three grand slams this season, saw his fate coming with the Salt Lake club housing both John Hester and Luke Carlin at the same position.
ATTENDANCE: On a mild April night, a total of 4,555 baseball fans descended on Spring Mobile Ballpark to cheer on the home team.
BEELINES
Sky Sox 12, Bees 6
In short: Colorado Springs opened the first two innings with seven runs, but the Bees would answer with five runs in the third keep the game close. The Sky Sox would cross home plate five times in the remaining innings, however, including three in the ninth inning, to leave Salt Lake in the dust.
Bees manager Keith Johnson's take: "All the way to the end I felt like the game was in our grasp."
Record: 12-13
Up next: vs. Colorado Springs, today, 6:35 p.m. Sky Sox LHP Drew Pomeranz (3-0, 2.82 ERA) vs. Bees RHP Orangel Arenas (1-3, 7.98 ERA)
Next homestand: May 3-6 vs. Tucson (Padres)
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