Salt Lake Bees fail to break out of slump against Grizzlies' ace

It only makes sense that the Salt Lake Bees would struggle to get hits and runs on Thursday night at Spring Mobile Ballpark. Not only have they been in a hitting slump of late, but they faced the Fresno Grizzlies' top pitcher — who has been even better outside of Fresno.

Kevin Pucetas made his seventh road start of the year, scattering seven hits while giving up just one run in seven-plus innings to lead the Grizzlies to a 5-2 win over the Bees.

Pucetas is now 5-0 in his road starts this year. Plus, in his last five road starts — with 33 innings pitched — he's given up just two earned runs.

"(Pucetas) was on, no doubt about it," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell. "He's a good pitcher. You've got to give him a lot of credit."

But the Salt Lake skipper is even more concerned by his team's recent struggles at the plate regardless of who the opposing pitcher may be. The Bees have now lost six of their last seven games to fall to 39-35 on the year.

"We haven't hit in awhile," said Mitchell. "We have too many bad at bats to really get a rally going. . . . If we could score some runs, we'd be winning ball games. But right now we can't score any runs."

Salt Lake got a decent starting pitching performance from Mike MacDonald, who gave up four runs on eight hits in 6-2/3 innings. He still took the loss to fall to 4-8 on the season.

"We'll come out of (the hitting slump), but it's a matter of trying to get out of it sooner than later," said Mitchell.

Bees catcher Bobby Wilson went 2-for-4 and right fielder Terry Evans was 1-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. But they were the only Bees to be very productive from the plate on Thursday.

The Bees and the Grizzlies will finish their current four-game set tonight at 7 p.m. David Austen (2-4, 6.87 ERA) is scheduled to start against Fresno's Ryan Sadowski (5-2, 4.11). The same two teams will then travel to Fresno for a four-game series beginning on Saturday.

BEESWAX: Pitcher Jose Arrendondo was placed on the disabled list on Thursday with a right ulnar collateral ligament sprain. The 25-year- old has appeared in six games for the Bees with a 1.35 ERA in 6-2/3 innings since being sent down by the parent Los Angeles Angels. He was 1-3 with a 5.55 ERA and 27 strikeouts with the Angels. Kyle Hurst, the son of former major leaguer Bruce Hurst, was promoted from Orem to take Arrendondo's spot on the Bees roster. . . . Attendance on Thursday night was 7,269.

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