Salt Lake Bees: Team showing signs of snapping tailspin

After seeing his team lose five of its previous six games, Salt Lake manager Bobby Mitchell wasn't about to complain following the Bees' 7-3 win over Albuquerque.

That doesn't mean he was perfectly happy, either.

"We're still not there yet," he said, lamenting Salt Lake's still-struggling offense.

Not all the way back to the way things were when the Bees stormed out to a 24-2 record, but certainly better than things had been for more than a week.

The Bees had squandered 12 consecutive chances to drive a runner in from scoring position, and the team's confidence was shot.

That ugly stretch came to an end in a big way during the fifth inning Thursday as Salt Lake's offense erupted for seven runs. The Bees loaded the bases with no outs and proceeded to drive runs across the plate in a hurry as the Isotope pitchers struggled with control.

Four Salt Lake batters walked in the inning and another was hit by a pitch. Add those batters to the five base hits and a sacrifice fly and the Bees were relieved to see what they hope to be an end to their recent batting woes.

Shortstop Gary Patchett, who started the rally with a walk, highlighted it later when he drilled a high fly ball that landed just inside the left field line to drive in two runners.

"I thought we hit more balls hard than we did last night," Mitchell said. "So that's encouraging."

The Bees needed that rally after starting pitcher Shane Loux got roughed up a little bit in the first inning. Salt Lake fell behind early when Albuquerque opened the game with back-to-back doubles by Jai Miller and Andrew Beattie. Former Salt Lake player Dallas McPherson then stroked a single to drive in another run, and the Isotopes were ahead 2-0 before Salt Lake came to the plate.

Loux settled down nicely over the next seven innings, though, and retired 21 of the next 25 batters he faced.

"The biggest thing for me," Loux said, "was the shutdown inning right after that."

The Isotopes might have been able to sneak back into the game with a couple of runs. Loux said his back tightened up as he sat in the dugout during the long inning. But when he got to the mound, he looked loose and in control — sitting down all three batters he faced.

"Putting up a zero after we score is huge," Mitchell said, "because of the momentum change. It really helps us keep control of the game."

The Isotopes had a few other scoring opportunities go for naught before finally driving one meaningless run home in the ninth off reliever Jason Bulger.

"We needed to get back on track, and we did that tonight," Loux said.

"This is what the team needed to make that push."

BEE LINES: Kasey Olenberger will start today for the Bees in the series finale. ... Today's game is Hat Night. ... Attendance Thursday was announced as 4,666. ... The Bees left 10 runners on base, five of them in scoring position. ... The Bees recalled outfielder Coby Smith from Double-A Arkansas.

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E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com

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