By Rich Winter
For the Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — After taking a 4-3 lead into the fifth inning, the Salt Lake Bees gave up six unanswered runs as the Tacoma Rainiers rallied for a 13-6 win in front of 9,729 fans Wednesday at Smith’s Ballpark.
Salt Lake pitchers gave up nine walks, including four from reliever Austin Adams. The Bees trailed 13-6 as the game entered the bottom of the ninth.
Bees starter Tyler DeLoach entered Wednesday’s game with a 1-5 record. The left-hander surrendered a lead-off double to Rainier shortstop Chris Taylor. Mike Zunino singled to score Taylor but was thrown out at second as Deloach got out of the inning, trailing 1-0.
The Bees bats woke up in the third with back-to-back singles from Jose Gil and Angel Rosa. A Gary Brown bunt advanced the pair to second and third before a sharply-hit ball from Jared Mitchell drove in both runs to give the Bees a 2-1 lead.
Tacoma answered with a pair of runs in the fourth, one of them unearned, as Bees right fielder Roger Kieschnick mishandled a single off the bat of Patrick Kivlehan as Tacoma assumed the lead, 3-2.
Salt Lake answered in their half of the fourth as Kyle Kubitza reached base for the 38th consecutive game, eventually scoring to tie the game at 3-3 off a sacrifice fly from Brandon Bayardi.
The Bees took a 4-3 lead in the fifth as Rosa scored when Kieschnick drew a walk with two outs and the bases loaded. Salt Lake left the bases loaded, stranding three as Alex Yarbrough grounded out to end what could have been a big inning for the Bees.
DeLoach worked into the sixth but walked two Rainer batters, eventually getting chased when Jesus Montero rapped a single to score a run. The Rainiers' Ji-Man Choi delivered a three-run double that cleared the bases to give Tacoma a 7-4 lead.
Tacoma added two in the seventh as Kivlehan’s double off the wall scored Montero and James Jones. The Bees got a run back in the seventh with Keischnick’s sacrifice fly that scored Daniel Robertson.
Tacoma added four in the eighth while Bees shortstop Rosa scored his third run of the game off a Brown double.
Send us an Angel:
Bees shortstop Angel Rosa finished Wednesday’s game with Tacoma going 3 for 4 and scored three runs. Despite batting ninth, Rosa is batting .345 since being called up from High-A Inland Empire.
McGee dominating Triple-A pitching:
Bees catcher Stephen McGee has been crushing Triple-A pitching since being called up from High-A Inland Empire. Through five games McGee has a .556 average. McGee has eight RBIs with a homer and two doubles. Behind the plate, McGee has thrown out two of six base runners while helping the Bees' starting pitching to a 3.48 ERA in games when he's been behind the plate.
Kubitza still streaking:
When Bees first baseman Kyle Kubitza walked in the fourth inning, he extended his reached base streak to 38 games. The only longer streak in the PCL this year was Fresno’s Domingo Santana whose streak ended at 41.