Salt Lake Bees drop another heartbreaker

SALT LAKE CITY — After losing three of their last four games, the Bees seemingly did everything right Wednesday night — they put up two early runs then clawed back to take the lead after falling behind.

Then closer Michael Kohn blew a two-run lead in the top of the ninth. He gave up four runs — three on a bases-clearing double by Lou Montanez — and the Bees fell 9-7.

Obviously we need to put this in the past, Salt Lake first baseman Efren Navarro said. Well move on and learn from it, but its a tough one to swallow.

Lost in the midst of the loss was a standout performanI just tried to hunt the fastball today and get some good swings, Navarro said. I was able to get two today. One one a mistake — I think he wanted to go away — and the other was right down the middle.

Known for his impeccable glovework, Navarro has been nearly flawless in the field this season — he leads all Triple-A first basemen in fielding percentage, and its not even close.

Lately, though, he has been more aggressive at the plate, and it showed in his line: he went 2-for-5 with four RBIs. After hitting exactly zero home runs the first three months of the season, Navarro has belted eight since the calendar flipped to July.

Ive been working with [Salt Lake batting coach Jim Eppard] in the cages, trying to pull the ball more, Navarro said. Usually my routine is to stay away and go up the middle, but lately that has changed. Im trusting my hands more on the inside pitch, and Im able to square the ball up better than before.

Paul McAnulty also homered for Salt Lake, while Jeff Baisley went 3-for-4 with two doubles.

Bear Bay was solid on the mound once again. He gave up five runs, but struck out seven batters while chewing up seven innings for a team thats short on pitching — Eric Junge is on the disabled list and Jerome Williams was summoned to the majors by the Angels.

Bay was in position to get the win before Kohn blew his fifth save of the season.

Besides Kohn, who gave up five hits and a walk in only two-thirds of an inning, Alexi Amarista also had a night to forget. He went 0-for-5 and came up empty twice with the bases loaded. He flied out to end the second inning then struck out to kill a Bees rally in the fifth.

For Iowa, Bryan LaHair was once again a brutal matchup. He doubled in the first inning then smashed his second home run in as many nights in the top of the sixth.

Brett Jackson went 2-for-4 with two runs, while Montanez had two hits and four RBIs in the win.

The Bees and Cubs will play again tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Spring Mobile Ballpark.

email: mpayne@desnews.com