Bees live to play another day with Game 3 win over Tucson

The tee times are on hold and the golf clubs can stay put away for another day.

The Salt Lake Bees will play at least of one more game this season.

Salt Lake, facing a do-or-die situation, stayed alive with a 5-3 victory over the Tucson Sidewinders Friday night at Franklin Covey Field. The Bees still have a long way to go to avoid elimination from the Pacific Coast League playoffs, as the Sidewinders still hold a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series.

But it was a start.

"We live to play another day," said Bees catcher Ryan Budde with a sense of relief.

The fourth game of the series will be tonight at 7, with the decidinig fifth game — if necessary — on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Franklin Covey.

The Bees got off to a good start, scoring in each of the first three innings and then holding on for the victory.

"When you get down in a series, the last thing you want to do is get down in the game," said Bees manager Brian Harper. "It was good that we were able to swing the bats and get a few runs."

In the first inning centerfielder Tommy Murphy led off with a double and scored on Kendry Morales' RBI single. Salt Lake added two more in the second when new shortstop Sean Rodriguez's walk was followed by a two-run homer that hit off the top of the fence down the right field line — the shortest part of the park, just 315-feet from home plate — by Adam Pavkovich. That gave the Bees a 3-0 lead.

"I was rounding first and I saw the ball bounce and I was like, 'what did that hit?"' said Pavkovich. "I was hoping it bounced (away from me) instead of toward me. Sometimes you get those bounces."

The Sidewinders scored two runs in the third inning off Bees starter Nathan Bland, only to have the Bees go back up by three in the bottom half of the third. First Dallas McPherson hit a tape-measure solo homer to right before Mike Eylward drove in the fifth run of the game for the Bees with an RBI double.

For the third playoff game in a row, the Bees got an outstanding game from their starting picther — but the first two went for naught. Bland, on the other hand, earned the victory with six strong innings, giving up just two runs (one earned) on six hits with two strikeouts.