Bees throttled by Sacramento

The Salt Lake Bees ran into a buzzsaw Saturday afternoon, and going with it was their two-game winning streak.

For his third consecutive start, Sacramento righthander Colby Lewis allowed just three hits, leading the River Cats to a 10-0 victory over Salt Lake, handing the Bees their first shutout loss since a 3-0 setback to Tacoma in late August of last year.

"It was a bad game all around," Salt Lake manager Brian Harper said. "He pitched good and whenever you face a pitcher that's on, he's going to make your team look a little flat and that's what happened. We couldn't get anything going offensively."

Lewis surrendered a Salt Lake hit in the first and again in the second before retiring the side in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

In the sixth, he allowed his only free pass to Ryan Budde, but he was quickly erased with a double play.

"He was locating his fastball well and getting all of his pitches over and it was a little frustrating for our hitters and myself," Harper said.

The Bees (14-9) got a lead-off single in the seventh, but Lewis (2-1) ended up striking out the side. He finished with six punch outs, and fanned Salt Lake's heavy hitters Mike Eylward (three) and Nick Gournealt (twice) a combined five times.

Lewis, who dropped his ERA to 2.05, gave up three runs on three hits, while striking out a season-high 12 in his last start against Las Vegas.

Salt Lake's Henry Bonilla (3-1) entered the game unbeaten but was roughed up early with a run in the first and four more in the second.

Sacramento's Kevin Melillo, who scored in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Daric Barton, delivered a two-run double in the four-run second to break the game open.

After the shaky first two innings, Bonilla faced just 10 hitters in the next three innings and didn't allow a hit or run. By that time, however, the River Cats (14-8), leaders of the Pacific Coast League Pacific Southern Division, had done plenty of damage.

Melillo later added a towering two-run homer in the eighth off reliever Jason Bulger to push the lead to 8-0, and David Castillo later belted a two-run homer.

The Bees had just seven base runners in the final seven innings and only one — Kendry Morales — reached second base, and that came in the seventh. Salt Lake finished with five hits.

Five River Cat hitters had two hits or more in the 12-hit attack, while Melillo led the way with three hits and four RBIs. Barton tallied two hits and three RBIs.

The series with Sacramento and the Bees' eight-game homestand concludes today at 2 p.m. at Franklin Covey Field with the River Cats.

Salt Lake opens an eight-game road trip Monday at Portland.

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E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com