Salt Lake Bees: Bullpen fails to close out Sean O'Sullivan's pitching gem

SALT LAKE CITY — Sean O'Sullivan didn't pitch his best-ever game as a Salt Lake Bee on Monday night. But that doesn't mean he didn't hurl a gem in the Bees' 5-4 loss to the Tacoma Rainiers at Spring Moblie Ballpark.

O'Sullivan surrendered only three hits to the Rainiers in 6 2/3 innings. Alas, it wasn't enough for him to earn a victory, however, as the Bees bullpen blew a three-run lead, giving up four runs in the final three innings.

"You always want to get the win," admitted O'Sullivan. "Ninety-nine percent of the time these guys (from the bullpen) are going to come in and close it down. It just happened to be that one percent. I'm going to go out there and trust that they'll get the job done for me next time."

Despite the loss for Salt Lake, it was a strong showing for O'Sullivan, a 22-year-old who split time between Double-A Arkansas, Triple-A Salt Lake and the parent Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last season — especially considering that he has hasn't been feeling well of late.

"The last couple of days I've been battling the flu, so I knew I didn't have a whole lot of energy," O'Sullivan said. "After the first inning, the pitching coach said that I looked a little tired out there and he said to pick up my delivery to get it back to normal. I just tried to pound the (strike) zone and let our defense work a little bit."

As strong as O'Sullivan was on Monday, he gave up three more hits than he did in a game last July 28 — when he pitched the first and only no-hitter in franchise history.

"(O'Sullivan) pitched great, especially after having the flu," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell. "He gave his all and he deserved to win. It's too bad he didn't get the win."

Salt Lake, which had to rally with six runs in the ninth on Sunday to beat Tacoma, took an early lead this time around. The Bees plated three runs in the first inning with Michael Ryan and Terry Evans each producing run-scoring hits.

After Tacoma scored a run in the top of the fourth, the Bees answered to take a 4-1 lead on a run-scoring double by Nate Sutton.

The Rainiers rallied for a run in the seventh and eighth to pull to within a run. Then Tacoma plated a pair of runs in the ninth off Bees reliever Rafael Rodriguez to take a 5-4 lead.