Losing an inconsequential regular-season finale 9-5 to the Portland Beavers was the least of the Salt Lake Bees' worries on Monday afternoon at Franklin Covey Field.

Getting a couple of pitchers hurt in a nasty pre-game head-to-head collision, however, was a big concern for the Bees, who start the PCL playoffs Wednesday.

Bees pitchers Jonathan Rouwenhorst and Jason Bulger were shagging fly balls in the outfield during batting practice when they collided viciously.

"It put a damper on the day," said Bees manager Brian Harper.

Bulger was already on the disabled list due to a right shoulder strain, but he suffered a concussion due to the impact. Rouwenhorst, who made 50 appearances (seven starts) this season, will miss the playoffs with a broken jaw, broken nose and a possible injury to his eye socket. He will have surgery to repair the damage.

"Obviously that was very, very upsetting and it's going to hurt us," said Harper. "Jonathan was a big part of our bullpen. (Bulger) was already on the DL, but both of them are hurt. They are going to be OK, but it was a bad accident."

The parent Angels are expected to promote another pitcher from Double-A for the playoffs.

"We're going to miss (Rouwenhorst)," said Harper, "but in sports you've got to move on. In a short series a lot of times you don't use all 12 of your pitchers anyway, so we'll see what happens."

The Bees, the PCL's Pacific Northern Division champions, will open the best-of-five playoffs against the Tucson Sidewinders on the road Wednesday evening. The winner of the Bees/Sidewinders series will face the winner of the Nashville Sounds vs. the Round Rock Express for the PCL title.

Portland jumped out to a 4-0 lead early in the game off Bees starter Daniel Davidson, but Salt Lake battled back to tie the game with three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth.

The Beavers, however, took control of the game for good in the sixth inning, scoring four runs. It could have been worse, but Bees left fielder Nick Gorneault and center fielder Nathan Haynes both made outstanding running catches to steal a couple of extra-base hits from the Beavers.

Salt Lake finished the year 81-62. The Bees' 81 victories is the second most in franchise history. Only the 2000 Stingers' 90 wins was better.

BEES WAX: The Angels promoted infielder Sean Rodriguez to the Bees for the playoff run. Rodriguez opened the season with Class A Rancho Cucamonga, where he hit .301 in 116 games with 29 doubles, five triples and 24 homers. He was then called up to Double-A Arkansas, where he hit .354 in 18 games with five doubles, five homers and nine RBI. ... Salt Lake finished the season having turned a PCL-high 172 double plays. That is the second most in all of the minor leagues, trailing only the Angels' Double-A affiliate in Arkansas. ... Attendance for the regular season finale on Labor Day afternoon was 7,522.

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E-mail: lojo@desnews.com