Sidewinders slip past Stingers in home-run fest

TUCSON — On a night in which Salt Lake hit three straight homers in the fourth inning, it was one blast in the seventh by Kyle Nichols that gave Tucson a 9-8 win over the Stingers.

Nichols hit a 2-2 hanging slider from Greg Jones (1-2) over the bullpen in left field to give the Sidewinders the lead.

Down 2-0, Alex Pelaez led off the fourth with a single off Tucson starter Edgar Gonzalez. Casey Kotchman, Adam Riggs and Dallas McPherson followed with back-to-back-to-back home runs to put the Stingers ahead 4-2.

Salt Lake led 5-3 going into the bottom of the fifth when Tucson exploded for five runs to take the lead. The Sidewinders had two runners on with two out when Jason Middlebrook walked Nichols to load the bases. Julio Ramirez drove in a run as he beat out a high bouncer to third. Brian Barden cleared the bases with a three run triple to right center and later scored on a double by Jerry Gil.

The Stingers then scored three in the sixth to tie the game at 8-8 on a two run homer by McPherson and a run scoring single by Zach Sorensen. After that the Tucson bullpen kept the Stingers off the scoreboard as Mark Freed (2-1) tossed three shutout innings for the win and veteran Mike Fetters pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season.

NOTES: The Stingers are waiting for the results on an MRI on the back of pitcher Mike Brunet. Brunet left Sunday's game after two innings after his back stiffened up on him. Bobby Jenks, who has been out since mid-April with a stress reaction in his right elbow, rejoined the team and will likely start in Brunet's spot on Friday in Edmonton . . . As expected, catcher Tom Gregorio was placed on the disabled list with a right rib cage muscle strain. The Angels moved up catcher Ryan Budde from class-A Rancho Cucamonga. Budde was hitting .241 with nine homers and 26 runs batted in . . . Dallas McPherson has now hit four homers in the last two games.