Salt Lake Bees: Offensive outburst, Ortega overwhelm Omaha

On the day he was sent back down to the Salt Lake Bees from the parent Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Anthony Ortega was hit hard on Tuesday night at Spring Mobile Ballpark. Ortega, as a matter of fact, gave up three long homers in a single inning against the Omaha Royals.

Yet Ortega still earned the pitching victory — his second of the year for the Bees — thanks to an offensive outburst by his teammates. The Bees opened up an eight-game homestand with a 15-7 victory in front of 5,707 fans.

"It was a power surge by both teams," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell. "There were a lot of loud noise coming off the bats. We're still working on getting Ortega back into full strength. He got some balls up in the zone that got hit, but I was glad to see our offense get going."

Every Bee hitter got into the act, as all nine got at least one hit and eight scored at least one run. Salt Lake pounded out 19 hits — including six doubles, two triples and three homers — in their biggest offensive output of the season.

Second baseman Sean Rodriguez got perhaps the biggest hit of the game. After Omaha had scored three runs in the fourth — on three solo homers off of Ortega — the game was knotted, 5-5. But in the bottom of the fifth, Rodriguez pounded a two-run shot to give the Bees the lead they would hold on to the rest of the game. Rodriguez added a second homer in the eighth inning, a solo shot.

"It was just one of those games where every one brought it together and everyone got a couple (of hits)," said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez now has 11 homers on the season, tops on the team for the Bees and second in the Pacific Coast League.

The Bees are now 20-12, giving them the best record in the PCL. The Royals fell to 17-15 with the loss.

It got so bad for the Royals that they used outfielder Brian Buchanan, a former Salt Lake Bee, as a pitcher in the bottom of the eighth. He retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a homer to Rodriguez, a homer to Terry Evans and a triple to Adam Pavkovich.

The second game in the four-game series is set for tonight at 6:35. The Bees are scheduled to start Mike MacDonald (3-2, 5.53 ERA) against Omaha lefty Heath Phillips (1-3, 6.52).