Salt Lake bats fall flat in PCL playoff loss

TUCSON, Ariz. — Winning one of two games on the road to start the Pacific Coast League playoffs was the goal for the Salt Lake Bees entering the postseason.

They couldn't get it done.

Following a heart-breaking, 11-inning loss to the Tucson Sidewinders on Wednesday, the Bees came out flat offensively on Thursday at Tucson Electric Park, losing 4-2. Now the Sidewinders will have as many as three chances to beat the Bees one time in Franklin Covey Field in order to win the best-of-five semifinal series.

Salt Lake manager Brian Harper certainly isn't conceding the series, though.

"We've won three games in a row before," said Harper. "We just need to get the first one and then go from there."

The Bees will host the Sidewinders tonight at 7. The fourth and fifth games, if necessary, would be Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Salt Lake's record-setting pitcher, Dustin Moseley, was on the mound for the Bees and did a solid job in turning in a complete game on Thursday. Moseley, whose 13 wins this season set the all-time franchise mark in that category, gave up just four hits in eight innings. But the Sidewinders made the most of the hits they got — and the most of several Bees miscues — to score four runs with two of those runs unearned.

"We didn't catch any breaks," said Moseley. "We hit some balls hard, but right at the guys all night."

The Sidewinders got on board early, scoring two runs in the top of the first without getting a hit. A walk and two errors allowed the Sidewinders to jump out to a 2-0 advantage.

"We gave them two runs in the first, which ended up being the difference," said Harper.

Tucson added two more runs in the sixth inning. Jon Weber got a bloop single to left and went to third on Scott Hairston's bloop double to right that just got past diving Bees right fielder Nick Gorneault. Weber then scored on a wild pitch and Hairston scored on a sacrifice fly, giving the Sidewinders a 4-0 lead.

Tucson pitcher Dustin Nippert, who entered the game with the exact same 13-8 record as Moseley, was outstanding, giving up just one hit while striking out seven through the first seven innings. Nippert threw his fastball consistently in the mid-90s, keeping the Bees off balance. Salt Lake got to him a bit in the eighth, however, as they scored two runs on two hits and a walk. It was too little, too late, however.