Ever-changing Salt Lake Bees lose in 12 innings

For the second consecutive Fourth of July, the Salt Lake Bees took the field with 96 player transactions under their belt.

An ever-changing roster has been a constant throughout Bobby Mitchell's tenure as manager of the Bees.

"It's what I'm used to," he said before Saturday's 7-5 loss to Tacoma in 12 innings at Spring Mobile Ballpark. "It's happened both years."

Injuries at the big-league level, primarily with pitchers, have kept the parent Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in close contact with Mitchell. His cell phone has been ringing with great regularly.

"It rings a lot," Mitchell said. "And it can ring at any time, too."

Even, as it turned out Friday night in Colorado Springs, in the middle of a game.

"I'm trying to manage and I'm on the phone," Mitchell mused. "It's just become expected, even in the middle of a game. I know the ring."

The latest transaction came Saturday when infielder Howie Kendrick was promoted back to the majors, swapping places with Sean Rodriguez.

Roster changes have taken a toll on the Bees, who have already used 31 pitchers and 21 position players this season. They've now lost 13 of their last 17 games — falling well out of first place and clinging just above .500 at 42-41 overall.

"It's hard to get any consistency. We've had a lot of pitchers going up and down and all over the place," Mitchell said. ". . . I've kind of gotten used to it. It's kind of the nature of the beast."

It has been the past two seasons. In 2007, Salt Lake had only 63 transactions prior to July 4.

This year's most recent move paid off quickly. An RBI groundout by Rodriguez allowed Salt Lake to cut a two-run deficit in half in the first inning.

The Bees evened things up a 2-2 in the second on a run-scoring single by Ryan Budde.

It stayed that way until the fifth. That's when Tacoma's No. 9 hitter Callix Crabbe belted a two-run homer off of Salt Lake starter Dan Denham to give the Rainiers a 4-2 advantage.

The Bees evened things up in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Rodriguez. The other run came on an error.

An inning later, Reggie Willits delivered a bases-loaded, two-out RBI single on a full count to give Salt Lake its first lead at 5-4.

Controversy followed when the umpires failed to make an immediate call when Bees baserunner Gary Patchett was thrown out at third later on the play. Tacoma manager Daren Brown and pitcher Denny Stark expressed their dissatisfaction and were ejected.

The Rainiers, however, made a bigger statement in the ninth when Brad Nelson blasted a solo homer to tie the game at 5-5.

A deadlock ensued until the 12th inning. Tacoma broke the tie on back-to-back sacrifice flies by former University of Utah star Chris Shelton and Bryan LaHair.