SALT LAKE CITY — Bees starting pitcher John Lamb gave up nine runs in two innings as he struggled early in the game. Down 9-1 after two innings, Salt Lake rallied, scoring two runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings and tacking on a run in the bottom of the sixth. The Bees' relief pitching was solid, allowing no runs in seven innings of service.
In the ninth inning, down one, Nolan Fontana struck out, Tony Sanchez singled, Bo Way struck out and Eric Young Jr. singled. David Fletcher singled to load the bases with two outs, but Rey Navarro popped up to end the game.
LAMB CHOPS: Pitcher John Lamb entered Sunday’s contest with a 3-0 record in five starts. His earned run average coming into the game was 5.33, good for the second-lowest ERA of any current Salt Lake pitcher. This season, Lamb was suspended for 50 games for violating the Minor League Baseball drug policy. Lamb made his first start after being reinstated from his suspension on May 26, 2017. Coming into Sunday’s game, Lamb had struck out 17, walked 12, and given up 27 hits and 17 runs in 27 innings of work. His ERA at Smith’s Ballpark is 4.24 in three games, compared to a road ERA of 7.20 on the road.
On Sunday, Lamb got lit up, giving up nine runs and 12 hits in the first two innings of the game.
UMPIRE INJURED: In the fourth inning of Sunday’s game, home plate umpire Brett Terry was hit in the facemask. Terry was checked out by a Bees trainer and went to the locker room. Lee Meyers, who worked home plate during Saturday’s 10-inning game, finished the game at home. J.J. January was the lone umpire on the base paths for the remainder of the contest.
GOING STREAKING: Several Bees players had multi-game hitting streaks and on-base streaks entering Sunday’s contest. Jefry Marte extended his hitting streak to 11 games, his longest of the season, Carlos Perez currently holds a 14-game hitting streak and a 21 on-base streak and Cesar Puello has an 8-game hitting streak and a 25-game on-base streak.
Marte had three hits in the game, while Puello and Perez did not play.
BEELINES
Isotopes — 9
Bees — 8
In short: Salt Lake Bees starting pitcher John Lamb gave up nine runs in the first two innings, and the Bees couldn’t recover, falling 9-8 to the Albuquerque Isotopes.
Record: 54-47
Next up: Albuquerque LHP Ryan Carpenter (7-6, 4.40 ERA) at Salt Lake RHP Luis Diaz (4-7, 5.78 ERA), Monday, 6:35 p.m.
Email: jcoles@deseretnews.com
Twitter: JoeAColes