Long ball proves difference in Tacoma win

Salt Lake Stingers manager Dino Ebel wasn't complaining about a rare off day Wednesday. It was the rainout that followed Thursday that he found bothersome.

"I didn't like it. When you're swinging the bats and playing good you want to keep playing," he said after Friday's 6-3 loss to Tacoma at Franklin Covey Field. "The off day was good. We didn't want the rainout . . . You don't like to sit for two days.

"I'm not going to say that is why our bats were quiet," Ebel continued. "They pitched pretty good tonight. They came out, and they hit."

Aaron Rifkin's three-run homer for the Rainiers in the sixth inning proved to be the difference in the series opener between the Northern Division rivals. The blast to right field came off Salt Lake starter Dustin Moseley, who fell to 2-1 after scattering 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings. Dusty Bergman and Scott Schneider provided scoreless relief.

Tacoma's relievers did the same. Masao Kida and George Sherrill blanked the Stingers after starter and eventual game-winner Rich Dorman threw five complete innings.

"Their bullpen came in today and did a good job," said Ebel. "They kept our bats quiet."

Early on, however, the Stingers made some noise at the plate.

Salt Lake took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Nick Gorneault and Brian Gordon hit back-to-back home runs.

It wasn't enough, though, to extend the Stingers' win streak to three games.

Tacoma fired back in the third when Abraham Nunez belted a three-run homer to put the Rainiers ahead until the bottom of the fifth when Adam Kennedy's RBI groundout evened the score at 3-3.

It stayed that way until Rifkin's decisive blast three innings later.

"It was a good game," said Ebel. "They pitched well and got the two big hits with men on."

The series continues with a doubleheader this afternoon beginning at 4. Salt Lake LHP Clayton Andrews (0-0, 8.53 ERA) and Tacoma LHP Damian Moss (0-0, 0.00 ERA) are the scheduled starters in the opener. The nightcap pits Stingers RHP Doug Sessions (0-1, 6.75 ERA) against Rainiers LHP Felix Hernandez (2-2, 1.64 ERA).

GAME NOTES: Friday's game took just two hours, 15 minutes to complete — the fastest of the season . . . Kennedy, who is on a Major League rehab assignment, has driven in a run in each of his four appearances with Salt Lake . . . Tacoma is the top affiliate of the Seattle Mariners . . . Attendance was 4,060.