Salt Lake Bees win 3rd straight, beat 51s

An uphill climb awaits the Salt Lake Bees in the team's efforts to reach the Pacific Coast League playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. The Bees trail division leader Colorado Springs Sky Sox by six games with just 15 games remaining. Even with the odds of catching the Sky Sox looking thin, Salt Lake retains plenty of belief it can still be playing well into September.

"It can happen," second baseman Sean Rodriguez said. "Don't give up on us just yet."

Rodriguez helped move things in a good direction on Sunday afternoon. He made a crucial hit with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and converted it into a game-winning run on Chris Pettit's single to center field – handing the Bees a 6-5 victory over Las Vegas at Spring Mobile Ballpark.

It marked the third consecutive victory for Salt Lake since snapping a six-game losing streak against New Orleans last Thursday.

Defensive plays made the biggest difference for the Bees against the 51s. Salt Lake turned double plays three different times to close out innings – including the final one. It wasn't just the plays themselves that served an important purpose, but the timing of those plays made them even more critical.

Bees manager Bobby Mitchell said consistently turning double plays helped keep his pitchers fresh, build their confidence and keep their pitch count down.

"It's big for us," Mitchell said. "Right now, we're a little short in the bullpen. We need the starters to go a little bit into the ballgame. And that's huge when they are able to do that. And obviously it keeps the momentum on our side. "

It took a few innings for either offense to find a groove. Once the ice was broken, however, it was broken in spectacular fashion.

Las Vegas sprinted out to a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning when J.P. Arenciba, Kevin Howard and Jason Lane each scored a run in succession. Salt Lake matched and then exceeded that tally in the bottom of the inning.

Reggie Willits came home on Terry Evans' sacrifice fly to put the Bees on the board. Then Brandon Wood drilled a two-run homer over the left field fence to knot the score at 3-3. Rodriguez closed out the inning by doubling to right field to get on base and coming in on a single from Luis Figueroa to make it 4-3.

The two teams traded runs after that, with the 51s tying things up for the last time at 5-5 on a 7th inning run from Buck Coats. Salt Lake would take the lead for good on Rodriguez's second run just an inning later.