SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Bees were looking for a little run support.

And on Friday, when the home team defeated the Omaha Storm Chasers 9-0 at Spring Mobile Ballpark, winning pitcher Jarrett Grube was especially grateful.

“I didn’t expect that when I woke up this morning,” he said.

After each of their previous six playoff games this season were decided by a single run, the Bees had some magic at the plate Friday night, pulling to within a game, 2-1, in the PCL championship series and lengthening their season by at least one more day.

“Not getting hits is just as contagious as getting hits,” said Bees manager Keith Johnson. “It was good to see some of the guys come out and find a hole and then put together some good at-bats.”

The Bees posted 17 hits in the game — they had maxed out at 11 since the playoffs began — while six different players had multiple-hit outings and the team had three multiple-base hits, including one that started all the scoring: Scott Cousins’ second-inning double.

The hit, which led off the inning, landed Cousins on third base after a fielding error, and Drew Heid sent him home with a line drive. Two batters, a sacrifice bunt and a ground out later, Tommy Field reached base on a throwing error and Field went home to give Salt Lake a 2-0 lead.

Roberto Lopez hit a two-RBI home run in the fourth to increase the lead to 4-0.

A series of singles in the sixth inning — from Matt Long, Lopez and Efren Navarro — and in the seventh inning — from Heid, Rusty Ryal, Long and Navarro — added five more runs.

“We did a much better job of getting runners on base early in innings,” Johnson said, “as opposed to waiting until two outs before we got a runner on first base.”

On defense, Grube pitched the full nine innings, striking out 11 batters while giving up just two hits — a two-out double in the second and a leadoff single in the fourth — and one base on balls.

“I was just trying to make pitches and you’ve got to get one guy out at a time,” Grube said. “Me, the pitching coach and the catcher, we had a game plan and we stuck with it, and ended up on top tonight.”

Johnson added that it was a strong performance for the 31-year-old.

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“He started the game off really well and then it seemed like as the game progressed he got stronger and stronger,” Johnson said. “He found his fastball late, was using it aggressively in the zone, was getting ahead of guys, and forcing them to swing the bat.”

Johnson will start Matt Shoemaker in Game 4, which will start at 6:35 p.m. Saturday. He was the starter in Game 1 at Omaha but worked just one inning before a rain delay ended his night.

“We wanted to make sure we gave him as much rest as we could to get him as fresh as we could,” Johnson said. “Tomorrow we have our hands full with a very good ball team.”

Sarah Thomas earned a degree in Mathematics from the University of Utah and is currently pursuing an MBA at Westminster College. She has been covering sports for the Deseret News since 2008.

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