PCL baseball: Lopez's single nudges Salt Lake Bees to win

At 0 for 3, Roberto Lopez was due for a break, and when his fourth try produced a high pop to center, it didn't seem to be coming.

But wait — the centerfielder was deep, the second baseman was scrambling his way back, and the go-ahead run, Brennan Boesch, was already well on his way to third.

Sometimes, things just come together.

"Luckily, the guys were playing back," Lopez said, "and I found a hole."

The bloop single sent Boesch home in the bottom of the eighth for the winning score in a 6-5 win for the Salt Lake Bees (13-17) at Smith's Ballpark. The team twice was deadlocked with the visiting Reno Aces, but Lopez's luck bought the Bees their second straight victory.

The game saw Lopez get a break in more ways than one, starting his first game of the season at third after serving as a role player for most of season's first month.

The Bees shipped off three infield starters, all among the team's best sluggers, to the Angels in the last two days: first baseman C.J. Cron, third baseman Luis Jimenez, and shortstop Grant Green. As a group, the trio accounts for 15 home runs, 69 RBI, and each was hitting better than .300 when they departed.

Notably, Cron made his major league debut the same night in Anaheim, getting two RBIs on three hits in five at-bats.

In Salt Lake City, however, there was enough power to go around despite the missing stars. Four different Bees hit homers: Boesch, Jimmy Swift, Taylor Lindsey and Luis Martinez to score the first five runs.

Even if that doesn't happen every night, manager Keith Johnson said, his lineup still has depth despite missing mega-watt hitters.

"You can never count on home runs to score your runs — we want good at-bats, and we have a lineup full of guys who can do that," he said. "I'll take the long ball when I can get it, but you can't always count on them."

Going forward, Lopez looks to be one of the beneficiaries of the exodus, getting more at-bats and hoping to break out of a recent hitting funk.

First baseman Efren Navarro stands to start more games at his natural position with Cron out of town. A number of recent additions from Double A, Swift and Drew Heid, may see more time, although J.B. Shuck will be returning to Salt Lake.

After this game, Lopez will trust whichever way the ball bounces.

"I'm always ready," he said. "When I'm in [batting practice], I'm always doing work at third base, in the outfield, the corners, first base. I work as much as I can to be ready when the opportunity comes."

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon Bees 6, Aces 5

Reno AB R H RBI BB SO AVG

Gregorius 2B 3 0 0 1 0 0 .274

Cnninghm CF 3 0 0 1 0 0 .226

Jacobs DH 4 2 2 1 1 0 .380

Evans 1B 4 0 0 0 0 0 .289

a-Brtnick PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 .156

Kschnick RF 4 1 0 0 0 0 .273

Marte 3B 4 1 2 1 1 0 .274

Wilson C 4 1 1 1 0 1 .207

Oeltjen LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 .222

Ahmed SS 2 0 1 0 1 0 .244

Totals 32 5 6 5 1 5 .274

Salt Lake AB R H RBI BB SO AVG

Lindsey 2B 4 1 1 1 0 0 .258

Long CF 4 0 0 0 0 2 .212

Heid LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 .160

Navarro DH 4 0 2 0 0 1 .327

Cron 1B 5 4 3 2 0 1 .319

Boesch RF 4 2 2 1 0 1 .288

Lopez 3B 4 1 2 3 1 1 .286

Hester C 4 0 1 0 0 1 .284

Swift SS 3 1 1 2 0 1 .233

Totals 33 6 9 6 1 9 .289

Reno 031 000 010 — 5 6 1

Salt Lake 002 113 11x — 6 9 2

Reno: HR: Marte, An (2, 3rd inning off Alvarez, Jo, 0 on, 1 out), Jacobs (4, 8th inning off Boshers, 0 on, 2 out).TB: Marte, An 5; Wilson, Bo; Jacobs 5; Ahmed.

RBI: Wilson, Bo (7), Gregorius (15), Cunningham, A (5), Marte, An (7), Jacobs (15)Salt Lake: 2B: Hester (5, Harris).HR: Swift (1, 3rd inning off Spruill, 1 on, 0 out), Boesch (3, 4th inning off Spruill, 0 on, 0 out), Lindsey (4, 5th inning off Spruill, 0 on, 2 out), Martinez, L (1, 7th inning off Harris, 0 on, 0 out).TB: Swift 4; Boesch 5; Martinez, L 4; Navarro, E 2; Hester 2; Lindsey 4; Lopez, R.RBI: Swift 2 (7), Boesch (12), Lindsey (14), Martinez, L (8), Lopez, R (10).

Reno IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Spruill 4 2⁄3 4 4 4 1 4 5.50

Paterson 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 1 2.25

Harris 1 1⁄3 1 0 0 0 2 4.63

Marshall (L, 0-1)

1.0 2 1 1 0 1 0.54

Totals 8.0 9 6 6 1 9 4.36

Salt Lake IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Alvarez 62⁄3 5 4 4 1 2 5.54

Brady 1 0 0 0 0 0 9.00

Boshers (W, 1-0)

1 1/3 1 0 0 0 3 4.63

Totals 9.0 6 5 5 1 5 5.43

Umpires: HP: Brandon Henson. 1B: Nick Mahrley. 3B: Kolin Kline.

T: 2:39. Att: 10,179.

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Pacific Coast League standings

American North Division

W L Pct. GB

Iowa 15 12 .556 —

Oklahoma City 16 14 .533 ½

Colorado Springs 12 16 .429 3½

Omaha 12 16 .429 3½

American South Division

W L Pct. GB

Nashville 17 12 .586 —

Round Rock 16 13 .552 1

Memphis 14 15 .483 3

New Orleans 13 17 .433 4½

Pacific North Division

W L Pct. GB

Tacoma 14 12 .538 —

Sacramento 15 14 .517 ½

Reno 14 16 .467 2

Fresno 13 16 .448 2½

Pacific South Division

W L Pct. GB

Las Vegas 20 9 .690 —

Albuquerque 15 13 .536 4½

Salt Lake 13 17 .433 7½

El Paso 11 18 .379 9

Saturday's Games

New Orleans 5, Round Rock 1

Nashville 3, Iowa 1

Colorado Springs 1, Memphis 0

Omaha 4, Oklahoma City 2

Las Vegas at Tacoma, ppd., rain

Salt Lake 6, Reno 5

El Paso 8, Sacramento 5

Fresno 6, Albuquerque 4