Salt Lake's first off day in 16 days couldn't have come at a better time.

The Stingers, 14-3 losers to Tacoma Tuesday night, will have a little extra time to lick their wounds after dropping three straight games to the Rainiers to fall out of first place for the first time since June 2.

"I think this day off will help us," Salt Lake manager Dino Ebel said. "This club needs it. Guys are a little banged up here and there."

Perhaps the pitching staff is beat up more than the rest of the team after giving up a total of 42 hits and 28 runs in the three consecutive losses.

Reliever Eric Cyr, making a spot start in the place of Corey Lee, who was released by his request Monday, was roughed up in the first inning and never recovered.

Seven of the Rainiers' 17 hits came in the first inning. Eight of the first nine hitters reached base and scored.

A ball lost in the sun and a bad-hop base hit didn't help his cause either.

"It's a tough one. We didn't get off to a good start," Ebel said. "You've got to give those guys credit. When we made mistakes up in the zone they didn't miss them. They got their money's worth tonight."

With the loss, the Stingers (44-33) fall a half-game behind the Rainiers (45-33) in the Pacific Coast League Pac North Division.

Salt Lake won 5 of 8 games in the recently concluded homestand, but couldn't maintain its hold on the first-place lead.

The Stingers won't get a break following the off day when they start a four-game series at Sacramento, the leader of the Pacific Conference's Southern Division with a 45-33 mark.

As for Tuesday: "It just wasn't our night," Ebel said. "Our pitching has been great and Cyr has been throwing the ball well and he got the start. He made some mistakes up and they got him early. When you give up eight runs in the first it's hard to rebound."

After the shaky start, Cyr allowed just one more hit in three more innings. He walked two and struck out four.

Salt Lake managed just six hits, but didn't get its first hit until Casey Smith singled in the third.

Tacoma started Andrew Lorraine, who earned the win, didn't allow another hit or Salt Lake's first run until the seventh when Nick Gorneault homered to break up the shutout, and whittle the Tacoma lead to 14-1.

Salt Lake tallied three more hits in the eighth inning in scoring its final two runs. One run scored on an error, and the second scored on an RBI double by David Matranga.

Chris Snelling, Justin Leone, who homered in the fifth and Aaron Rifkin had three hits each for the Rainiers, while three others had two hits each. Snelling had a team-high three RBIs.

No Salt Lake hitter had more than one hit.

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com