Salt Lake Bees nearly shut out Redbirds

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Greg Smith tossed seven shutout innings to lead the Salt Lake Bees to a 5-2 win over the Memphis Redbirds on Wednesday night.

Smith (8-8) allowed just five hits with three strikeouts and no walks, as he extends his current scoreless streak to 162?3 innings. It was a scoreless game going into the seventh when Hank Conger led off with a single. One out later, Kole Calhoun doubled to right to advance Conger to third. With the Memphis infield pulled in, Efren Navarro chopped one over the head of shortstop Pete Kozma for a two-run single to put the Bees in front.

Two outs later, Matt Long belted a two-run homer to right to give Salt Lake a 4-0 lead. After the Bees picked up an unearned run in the eighth, Kozma hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth off Bobby Cassevah to spoil Salt Lake's bid for a shutout. Cassevah did record the final two outs for his ninth save of the season, as the Bees have now won four straight and 11 of their last 13 games.