On a three-game winning streak and with a late lead on Monday night at Spring Mobile Ballpark, it looked like the Salt Lake Bees just might be climbing back into a pennant race.

Instead, the Las Vegas 51s rallied to drop the Bees 9-8.

As a result, the Bees couldn't take advantage of another loss by division-leading Colorado Springs. The Sky Sox still lead Salt Lake by six games. With 15 games left, it's not looking good for the Bees to continue their streak of three straight PCL Pacific Northern Division titles.

"We've got to win a lot of games, obviously, so to let this one get away is tough," said Bees manager Bobby Mitchell. "These are important games that we've got to win."

If the Bees have any hope of catching the Sky Sox now, they need to play well during a five-game set that begins Wednesday in Colorado Springs. First things first, however, the Bees have a home game tonight against Las Vegas.

"We need to try to stay close (to Colorado Springs), because it's going to be tough to sweep five games against them," said Mitchell.

"It would be outstanding if we could, and I'm not saying it can't happen, but we've got to stay close enough so that after we play them we're still in striking distance."

The Bees held a 7-4 lead entering the seventh, but the 51s scored five runs in the next two innings. Salt Lake cut the gap to one in the bottom of the eighth on a run-scoring double by Freddy Sandoval, but the Bees failed to score in the bottom of the ninth and they lost for the seventh time in the past 10 games.

Salt Lake is now 0-57 in games in which they trail entering the ninth inning. The Bees also fell to 3-8 this month in one-run games.

Despite the loss, the Bees are playing considerably better than last week — especially offensively — when they lost six in a row, including three shutout losses.

First baseman Matt Brown hit a three-run homer in the first and a run-scoring single in the fifth, while designated hitter Brandon Wood also had a big game, going 2-for-4 with a homer, three runs scored and two RBIs.

Alas, it wasn't enough.

The Bees and the 51s will finish their four-game set tonight at Spring Mobile Ballpark. Salt Lake is scheduled to start Brad Knox (7-8, 5.35 ERA) against Las Vegas lefty David Purcey (7-6, 4.83).

BEES WAX: With both Salt Lake and Colorado Springs losing, the Sky Sox's "magic number" is now nine. Any combination of nine Sky Sox wins and Bees losses will give them the title. … Wood, the all-time home run leader in franchise history, now has 76 round-trippers in a Salt Lake uniform. … Attendance on Monday night was 8,167.

e-mail: lojo@desnews.com