The final outcome of the Salt Lake Bees' game seemed apparent after the first two innings on Monday night at Franklin Covey Field, as the home team jumped out to a huge lead.

In the end, however, the Tacoma Rainiers made things interesting.

Still, the Bees held on to win the game 9-7 and improve to 19-11 overall. The victory gave Salt Lake a 3-1 series win over second-place Tacoma, which now trails the Bees by 2.5 games in the PCL's Pacific Northern Division.

"Start fast and hold on," is how Bees manager described the victory that saw his team score seven runs in the first, two more in the second and then go scoreless the rest of the way. Tacoma, meanwhile, had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning before Bees reliever Jason Bulger shut the door on the Rainiers for his third save of the season.

"They battled back," said Harper. "But Jonathon Rouwenhorst and Bulger did a good job shutting them down."

Rainiers starter Francisco Cruceta struck out 10 Bees and gave up just one run in five innings in Tacoma two weeks ago, but Salt Lake learned from that game. Monday the Bees were much more patient at the plate.

"The last time we faced (Cruceta) in Tacoma, we swung at a lot of bad pitches," said Harper. "We made some adjustments and we were making him throw strikes and when he did, we hit a few balls pretty good."

The biggest problem for Cruceta is that he couldn't throw strikes. He gave up four walks and two wild pitches in the first inning alone. Salt Lake plated seven runs in the first inning — on just three hits — to take a 7-1 lead. Right fielder Nick Gorneault hit a two-run double and second baseman Brian Specht — the ninth hitter of the inning for the Bees — added a two-run triple off the center field fence.

Cruceta gave up two more runs in the second inning — with Gorneault's triple being the big hit — before even getting an out. He was yanked from the game after giving up nine earned runs in one inning of work — for an ERA of 81.00 for the game. That ballooned his season ERA from 2.74 entering the game— ninth best in the PCL — to 6.00.

After two innings the Bees led 9-3 and appeared they would coast to victory, but the Rainiers chipped away and pulled to 9-7 in the seventh inning, but the could get no closer.

The biggest suspense of the game was whether Gorneault would hit for the cycle — after getting a double and triple in his first two plate appearances. He added a single in the seventh — meaning he needed a homer for the cycle, but he didn't get up again.

"I'm not going to lie," said Gorneault. "(Hitting for the cycle) crossed my mind ... The good news is that we did a good job shutting them down there at the end and we got the 'W.'"