Salt Lake Bees: Barret Browning provides relief in Bees' win

SALT LAKE CITY — Barret Browning, a Salt Lake Bees reliever, knew he might be called on to pitch on Monday night at Spring Mobile Ballpark against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

Browning just had no idea how early it would be.

Salt Lake starter Amalio Diaz threw just six pitches to two batters before he was struck on the right hand by a hard-hit ball off the bat of the Sky Sox's Kaz Matsui. Diaz recovered to throw Matsui out at first, but he was taken out of the game due to his hand being injured on the play.

That's when Browning was called on — and he provided plenty of relief for the Bees during their 6-1 victory. Browning gave up just one run in 4-1/3 innings to earn the win. He wasn't the only reliever who came through, either, as Gabe DeHoyos and Bobby Cassevah combined to pitch four scoreless innings.

"It was a very good night (for the bullpen). Barret (Browning) picked up a lot of slack as did Gabe (DeHoyos) and everybody else," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell.

"Throwing strikes was the main thing," said Browning of his success. "The guys played great defense behind me. I didn't go out there and mow guys down or strike a lot of guys out. I just threw strikes and kept the guys on defense on their toes and they made a lot of good plays for me."

The Bees, who had scored a combined 32 runs in the previous two outings, continued to hit the ball well on Monday night to increase their winning streak to three games and even their season record at 51-51. Mark Trumbo and Terry Evans led the way with two hits, a homer and two RBIs each. Nate Sutton added three hits and an RBI.

Salt Lake will continue its homestand tonight when it welcomes the Portland Beavers for a four-game set. The Bees and Beavers will see plenty of each other over the next eight days, as after the series in Salt Lake the two teams will head to Portland to play a five-game set in four days with a doubleheader set for Sunday.

BEES WAX: Outfielder Peter Bourjos was named the PCL's Player of the Week for the second time in three weeks Monday. Bourjos hit .343 (12-for-35) for the week, driving in nine runs and scoring 12 times. … The parent Angels announced Monday that the club has recalled right-handed pitcher Michael Kohn from Salt Lake and optioned right-handed pitcher Trevor Bell to the Bees. In addition, right-handed pitcher Matt Palmer completed his rehab assignment with the Bees and was optioned to Salt Lake. The Bees also no longer have the services of Rafael Rodriguez, who was part of the trade with Arizona that sent pitcher Dan Haren to the Angels and also included former Bees pitcher Joe Saunders going to the Diamondbacks. ... Attendance on Monday night was 6,383.

e-mail: lojo@desnews.com