Busy Bees rally for win

A busy day proved to be a productive one for the Salt Lake Bees Thursday.

New additions Chone Figgins and Kendry Morales had back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the eighth inning as the Bees rallied for a 6-5 win over Sacramento at Franklin Covey Field.

"Your team can get really good or a little bit weaker with one telephone call," said Salt Lake manager Brian Harper.

Five changes were made to the Bees roster earlier in the day by the parent Los Angeles Angels. They called up infielder Brandon Wood (adding him to the 40-man roster) and sent Morales back to Salt Lake. The Bees also picked up Figgins. He'll be with the team throughout the four-game series on a major league rehab assignment (fingers).

The other moves involved the addition of catcher Ryan Budde and the release of Brent Del Chiaro, who accepted an offer to become the Angels' bullpen catcher.

The flurry of activity, though, didn't slow things down.

After giving up a solo homer to Sacramento's J.J. Furmaniak in the top of the third, Salt Lake made a powerful response in the bottom of the inning.

Tommy Murphy opened the outburst with a two-run triple. Nick Gorneault and Matt Brown later added RBI singles to make it 4-1.

It wasn't enough, however, to seal the deal.

The River Cats rallied with two-out scores in the seventh and eighth to inject drama into the series opener. They climbed back into contention when Brian Stavisky and Charles Thomas drove in runs and pulled ahead when Jason Stokes smacked a two-run homer an inning later.

Salt Lake countered with the late heroics of Figgins and Morales to cap all scoring into the seesaw affair.

"Two-out hitting is huge," said Harper.

So, too, is effective pitching.

Harper said Bees starter Joe Saunders, a Virginia Tech alum who had a successful but emotional outing for the Angels last weekend while wearing his collegiate cap as a tribute to the shooting victims at his alma mater, was outstanding. He had six strikeouts and no walks in 6 2/3 innings.

The series continues tonight at 6:35. Salt Lake RHP Kasey Olenberger (2-1, 2.60 ERA) and Sacramento LHP Brad Halsey (2-0, 2.65 ERA) are the scheduled starters.

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com