Salt Lake Bees: Fresno walks away with win over Bees

Jose Arredondo, the Salt Lake Bees' hard-throwing reliever, was consistently hitting 95 miles per hour or better on his fastball during his one inning pitched on Tuesday night at Spring Mobile Ballpark.

What he wasn't hitting as often was the strike zone, however. That helped the Fresno Grizzlies walk away with an 8-6 victory.

Arredondo gave up just one hit — a single — but he walked three batters after entering a tied game in the eighth inning. The Grizzlies scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded base on balls. A fielding error by Bees second baseman Sean Rodriguez allowed Fresno to get a pair of insurance runs, too.

"We walked the leadoff guy in the eighth and then walked the guy with the bases loaded," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell. "You can't do that and win ballgames."

Salt Lake had plenty of chances to have a big offensive night. Twice, however, Bees hitters grounded into double plays with the bases loaded to compromise what could have been big innings. The second time came in the bottom of the seventh, with one out and the game tied 5-5.

"We had way too many mistakes," said Mitchell. "The bottom line is that the same situation we had in the seventh, they had (in the eighth). They scored three runs, and we scored none."

The Bees had a few highlights — led by catcher Bobby Wilson's three-run homer in the third inning and left fielder Nate Sutton going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs.

But it wasn't nearly enough, as the Grizzlies downed Salt Lake for the second time in as many nights.The loss drops the Bees to 50-47 on the season, while the Grizzlies improve to 50-46. Salt Lake is now 4.5 games behind first-place Colorado Springs in the PCL Pacific North Division.

The same two teams will play the third game of their four-game set tonight. Brad Salmon (4-2, 4.09 ERA) is scheduled to start for Salt Lake against Fresno lefty Steve Hammond (6-8, 5.44).

BEES WAX: Outfielder Chris Pettit has been activated from the disabled list. Pettit, who was leading the PCL with a .367 batting average when he got hurt, has been out since June 5 with a fractured left hamate. To make room for Pettit on the roster, infielder Carlos Colmenares was sent back to single-A Rancho Cucamonga. . . . Bees infielder Matt Brown, who has been out since June 30 with left elbow inflammation, has started a rehab stint in Tempe. . . . Fresno starting pitcher Matt Kinney played for the Salt Lake Buzz during the 2000 season. He went 5-2 with a 4.25 ERA that season before being called up to the Minnesota Twins.

e-mail: lojo@desnews.com

Grizzlies 8, Bees 6

Top performance: Bees outfielder Nate Sutton went 3-for-3 with two

doubles, two RBIs and a walk

Next up: tonight vs. Fresno, 7 p.m.

Record: 50-47

Current series: Fresno leads 2-0

Next homestand: vs Portland, July 24-27