Good but ugly: Stingers outlast Omaha, barely

Watching Friday night's Salt Lake Stingers game, you got a sense that if just one pitcher made a stand, it would decide the outcome.

Well, Salt Lake reliever Derrick Turnbow did, sort of, earning a ninth-inning save by protecting a two-run lead, despite walking two batters.

Anyway, somebody had to win, and the Stingers had enough offense and barely enough pitching to pull out a 13-11 victory over the Omaha Royals.

"It was a good win, as ugly as it was," said Salt Lake manager Mike Brumley.

How ugly was it? Stingers pitchers coughed up 13 walks, four more than the previous season high and tying the franchise "record."

Salt Lake tied season-highs by pounding out 13 runs and 20 hits.

The Royals left 16 men on base.

And it was the longest nine-inning Stingers game of the season, at an epic three hours and 36 minutes.

Brumley didn't try to alibi for his beleaguered pitching staff.

"It wasn't one guy," he said. "Everybody had command problems tonight. We just weren't sharp on the mound."

The Stingers' skipper thinks the big lead actually might have had a negative psychological effect on his hurlers.

"The guys are pressing a little bit, I think," he said. "We got on the defensive a little bit."

A casual fan might have assumed the Stingers had the game well in hand when they jumped out to a big early lead. But if this season's edition of the Stingers has shown anything, it's an inability to protect leads, big or small.

A wild first inning saw the Stingers go up 7-0. The frame included: singles by the first three hitters; a hit batsman; a pickoff throw that Royals first baseman Calvin Pickering just waved at, allowing one run to score; a pitch by Royals starter Kris Wilson that pretty much went straight into the turf and rolled about 30 feet from the mound; and, finally, a three-run homer by Stingers catcher Tom Gregorio.

Hey, if strange baseball plays are your thing, that inning — and this season — have delivered.

The Royals answered that inning with three runs in the top of the second, after which the Stingers struck again. The big blow for Salt Lake in the bottom of the second was a three-run homer by Andres Galarraga, which prompted a big smile from the 43-year-old former NL batting champion as he crossed the plate.