Not even a 4-0 first inning deficit could trip up the streaking Bees as Salt Lake surged back to defeat the Tucson Sidewinders 10-9 for their sixth straight victory. The win extended Salt Lake's lead in the Pacific Northern division to a cushy five games with 19 games left. The Bees' bats came alive in a five-run seventh inning on a Tim Duff three-run blast, a Mike Eylward solo shot and a Tommy Murphy unearned run from a throwing error. With every Bees' victory, second-place Colorado Springs becomes smaller and smaller in the rearview.

"Things are going good, we're getting a lot of breaks," said Bees manager Brian Harper, noting that two Colorado Springs pitchers have recently been called up to the majors. "That was a big home-run by Eylward to tie it and then Duff, that's two home-runs he has for us (on the season), Both of them have been huge."

Pedro Liriano escaped the first inning giving up four runs. As silly as it sounds to "escape"after surrendered four runs, Liriano was staring down a 3-0 hole with none out and the bases juiced. It could have been much uglier. "No matter what he was going five innings for us," said Harper, saying they had no other choice because of last night's 12-inning game. "He battled back and kept us in the game."

After the big first inning for the Sidewinders, the Bees were able to strike back in the bottom of the inning with a couple of runs to quickly cut the lead and keep the game within reach. Casey Smith hit an RBI triple and hot-hitting Kendry Morales singled Smith home. Liriano calmed down after that, only giving up one more run, and the Bees added two in the third to set the stage for the explosive seventh inning. Tucson did not go easily, putting four runs on the board in the ninth, but the Bees were able to hang on. It's needless to say that's not the way Salt Lake wants to close out games.

"We don't want to finish them like that," said Harper.

BEELINES: Bees' outfielder Greg Porter extended his home hitting streak to 20 games, second longest in the PCL this season ... Howie Kendrick returned from the Angels to Salt Lake for the second time this year for a rehab assignment. He hit .320 (8-25) with three HR and nine RBI in his first stint in May ... Attendance was 6,724.

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E-mail: nstorey@desnews.com