Salt Lake Bees: Tucson starts fireworks show early vs. Bees

Jamie D'Antona and the Tucson Sidewinders couldn't wait that long.

The burley designated hitter blasted three rockets high into the air and over the fence as he powered Tucson to a 8-5 win over the Salt Lake Bees in front of a packed house.

"He's a good hitter. He's an all-star," Bees manager Bobby Mitchell said. "We just didn't get him out enough."

The loss dropped Salt Lake to 53-34, while Tucson improved to 36-53.

Tucson lit off its own supply of rockets to open the game, as Trent Oeltjen and D'Antona ripped back-to-back homers deep over the berms in right and left-center field, respectively.

Bee's starter Dustin Moseley was again tagged by D'Antona in the third inning — this time a two-run shot to right giving the Sidewinders a 4-0 lead.

Salt Lake got a little lucky in the bottom half of the inning when Tucson third baseman Wilkin Castillo was bumped from behind by shortstop Jesus Merchan and dropped what would have been the third out of the inning on a pop fly from Sean Rodriguez.

Chris Walker scored on the play, and a pitch later Freddy Sandoval teed off on a mammoth homer over the right-field fence to tie the game at 4-4.

That fresh start for Moseley and the Bees didn't last long, though, as Tucson's Donnie Kelly hammered the first pitch of the fourth inning for Tucson's fourth homer of the game.

By the time D'Antona dropped a towering shot just over the fence in right in the fifth, the Sidewinders were well on their way to victory, and Moseley was done for the night, having surrendered five homers and seven runs in just five innings.

"He didn't start off sharp," Mitchell said. "And obviously they were hitting it pretty good."

Mitchell said he was most disappointed with the way Tucson snatched away the momentum his team had built by tying the score in the third.

"The one that hurt us the most was the one right after we tied it up," Mitchell said. "I'm sure (Moseley's) confidence was OK. He wasn't sharp with his pitches."

Still, Salt Lake had its chances. The Bees closed the gap to 7-5 in the eighth and had a pair of chances to score again but couldn't get anyone else across the plate as Tucson relievers Emilliano Fruto and Jailen Peguero combined for four innings of two-hit pitching to close out the game.

Sandoval led the Bees with two hits, the only player with more than one, while the bullpen did an effective job of slowing down the Sidewinders with four innings of work and only one run allowed.

BEE LINES: There will be more fireworks tonight after the Bees and Sidewinders wrap up their game. ... Attendance was announced at 15,514, the biggest crowd of the year. ... Salt Lake's Nick Green is slated to take the mound tonight, facing Billy Buckner.

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