Salt Lake Bees' Fields hits two homers against Tacoma for the win, 5-3

Salt Lake Bees shortstop Tommy Fields barely tapped the dirt off his cleats. Coming to the plate in the fourth inning against the Tacoma Rainiers, he stared down Tailjuan Walker as the right-handed pitcher delivered a meatball over the plate. With John Buck already on first after drawing a walk, Fields' bat crushed the offering and drove the ball almost to the scoreboard in right field.

Fields quickly trotted around the bases to meet Buck for a high-five. It was familiar territory for Fields, who in the second already went yard with a creeper over the left-field wall for the Bees' first run of the day. He finished the day 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

"You center up a ball pretty well and they are going to get out of here," Fields said. "I was looking for an off-speed pitch and Walker went with a change-up. I'm happy that I got two."

The Bees won the series opener against Tacoma 5-3. Using five pitchers, Salt Lake trusted the big bat of Fields and definitive defensive plays from the infield. Third baseman Shawn O'Malley was able to end threats in the second and third.

"Double plays are huge," Fields said. "They get the team going, they save our staff and it helps us with our next outing."

Fields wasn't the only Salt Laker to hit the long ball in the first win in the four game home stand. Right-fielder Brennan Boesch hit his 18th of the season in the fifth, with Shawn O'Malley going deep in the seventh.

Veteran hurler Randy Wolf pitched his first game for the Bees. Wolf went 32⁄3 innings with four strikeouts and one walk, giving up five hits with two earned runs. He gave up a home run to Justin Smoak in the fourth. While roughed up, Wolf looked confident working his fastball intertwined with an off-speed pitch that barely broke the speed limit at 66 mph.

Fields said Wolf's presence will be a good addition for Salt Lake.

"It's always good to have multiple-year big league guys on your staff — they're professionals," Fields said. "Guys can watch them. How they go about their business is awesome." —

PCL standings

American North

W L Pct. GB

Iowa 57 54 .514 —

Omaha 56 53 .514 —

Oklahoma City 55 57 .491 2½

Colo. Springs 45 64 .413 11

American South

W L Pct. GB

Nashville 59 51 .536 —

Memphis 57 52 .523 1½

Round Rock 56 53 .514 2½

New Orleans 56 54 .509 3

Pacific North

W L Pct. GB

Sacramento 62 48 .564 —

Reno 58 52 .527 4

Tacoma 55 56 .495 7½

Fresno 53 57 .482 9

Pacific South Division

W L Pct. GB

Las Vegas 62 49 .559 —

Albuquerque 52 58 .473 9½

El Paso 52 58 .473 9½

Salt Lake 46 65 .414 16

Monday's Games

Tacoma 4, Sacramento 3

Omaha 7, New Orleans 6

Nashville 3, Oklahoma City 1

Round Rock 11, Colorado Springs 4

Fresno 9, El Paso 4

Las Vegas 5, Salt Lake 3

Reno 6, Albuquerque 0

Tuesday's Games

New Orleans 2, Iowa 1, 10 innings

Oklahoma City 7, Round Rock 3

Memphis 4, Omaha 1

Salt Lake 5, Tacoma 3

Nashville at Colo. Springs, ppd., rain

Albuquerque at Sacramento, late

El Paso at Las Vegas, late

Reno at Fresno, late

Wednesday's Games

Nashville at Colo. Springs, 12:35 p.m.

Albuquer. at Sacramento, 1:05 p.m.

Iowa at New Orleans, 4 p.m., 1st game

Memphis at Omaha, 6:05 p.m.

Okla. City at Round Rock, 6:05 p.m.

Iowa at New Orleans, 6:30 p.m., 2nd game

Tacoma at Salt Lake, 7:05 p.m.

El Paso at Las Vegas, 8:05 p.m.

Reno at Fresno, 8:05 p.m. —

PCL standings

• Shortstop Tommy Fields hit two home runs to put the Bees up and over the Rainiers. Through 74 games, Fields now has six home runs.

• Randy Wolf goes 32⁄3 innings with four strikeouts, one walk, five hits and two earned runs.

• Bees third baseman Shawn O'Malley starts two double plays to end threats in the second and third innings.