Stingers win 2nd straight

Salt Lake has not won a PCL series in its last 15 tries. It's a streak that Salt Lake manager Mike Brumley is painfully aware of. With the Stingers' 7-4 win over Las Vegas Wednesday night, Salt Lake has won two straight games and now has a chance to win its first series in recent memory with one more win during the series' final two games.

"Obviously, with what we have in mind for the second-half of the season, we're going to have to win some series," Brumley said after Wednesday's win.

Jason Middlebrook threw seven innings to earn the win and improve to 6-5 on the season. His final line was hardly impressive — Middlebrook gave up four runs on 12 hits while striking out four batters. However, it was a performance that Brumley will gladly take. Middlebrook didn't get into any serious trouble until he was replaced in the eighth inning. Also, the Salt Lake pitcher didn't allow any walks and kept Salt Lake ahead throughout most of the game.

"He did a nice job of not walking people," Brumley said.

Las Vegas pitcher Edwin Jackson threw six innings in taking a no decision. At one point, however, Jackson struck out six of seven batters.

Offensively, the Stingers used an opportunistic approach to score runs. Zach Sorensen, Casey Kotchman, Dallas McPherson, Brian Gordon and Wil Nieves each recorded an RBI.

With the contest tied at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, Gordon recorded his RBI by leading off the frame with a solo home run to center field. That Stingers scored three more runs to take command of the contest.

After the 51s hit three straight singles to start off the top of the ensuing inning, Salt Lake reliever Scott Dunn limited Las Vegas to only two runs while getting his team out of the inning. He held the 51s scoreless in the ninth inning to earn the save.

"We kept the ball inside the ball park," Brumley said. "The final six outs are never going to be easy."

As far as their current "winning streak" is concerned, Brumley said the next two games will be important for his team.

"Four-game series are always tough (to win)," he said about trying to win the team's first series since sweeping Fresno in mid April. "We have a much better lineup."

For the second straight game, Brumley witnessed a strong performance e from his starting pitcher. He's hoping that kind of success can continue.

"Hopefully, with those lessons (they've learned), we're going to see some improvement," he added.