Bees need 12 to top Rainiers

It took time, 12 innings and nearly four hours, for the Salt Lake Bees to defeat the Tacoma Rainiers.

A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Curtis Pride and an accompanying fielding error by Tacoma provided a dramatic finish to a rollercoaster of a game at Franklin Covey Field. Salt Lake prevailed 10-9.

Mike Eylward, who drew a walk, scored the winning run when Pride's shot to centerfield bounced off the glove of Adam Jones.

Things started out well enough for the Bees. They scored three times in the first inning, added a fourth in the third and had a shutout going through four complete.

The good times, though, quickly evaporated.

The Rainiers scored six runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to overcome the early deficit. They overpowered Bees starter Henry Bonilla in a variety of ways. Ronald Prettyman's RBI single ignited the initial outburst, which included a sacrifice fly from Gookie Anderson, a run-scoring hit by Nick Green and Jeremy Reed's three-run homer.

A inning later, Johnson hit an RBI double to make it 7-4 and Bonilla was replaced by reliever Alex Serrano.

Shortly thereafter, Tacoma resumed its scoring barrage. Anderson hit an RBI single and later scored on a Salt Lake throwing error to make it 9-4.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh when the Bees climbed back into contention on a grand slam by Eylward with two outs.

The momentum shift continued in the ninth when Eylward and Greg Porter hit back-to-back RBI singles to force extra innings.

The Bees jumped out to a 3-0 advantage in the first inning. Nick Gorneault got things started with a run-scoring hit. Eylward and Porter later added RBI doubles. An inning later, Terry Evans made it 4-0 by driving in a score with a single.

The series continues tonight at 7. Salt Lake LHP Jonathon Rouwenhorst (9-4, 4.88 ERA) and Tacoma LHP Ryan Feierabend (2-3, 4.14 ERA) are the scheduled starters.

The Bees (52-46) remain 1 1/2 games behind Colorado Springs in the Pacific Northern Division.

BEE LINES: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vice president/general manager Bill Stoneman and former Olympic wrestler Rulon Gardner attended the game ... The Angels have optioned RHP Ervin Santana to Salt Lake and added former Bees catcher Mike Napoli to their 25-man roster ... Attendance was 5,371 ... Tonight's game will be the 2,000th called by team broadcaster Steve Klauke.

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com