This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake bats fell silent Wednesday night, the first of what will be the final homestand of the PCL season.
The Bees (59-73), held to nine hits in the 10-1 loss to Las Vegas (64-68) at Spring Mobile Ballpark, could hardly be expected to match the firepower from the night before at Colorado Springs, when both teams combined for 34 runs and 45 hits.
Since baseball at Security Service Field is outlandishly prolific, a high-run total is not unexpected. At more than 6,500 feet in elevation — 3,000 more than Salt Lake City — a 400-foot drive will travel 40 feet longer than at sea level.
In addition, the dimensions are smaller than at Coors Field.
"Then we have a night like tonight," Salt Lake manager Keith Johnson said. "Their pitcher did a good job of mixing his locations and mixing it up."
Las Vegas starter Kyle Drabek pitched into the eighth and allowed eight hits and one run.
In Tuesday's historic game, the Bees banged out 27 hits, with the entire starting lineup hitting safely at least once. Kevin Richardson led everyone with four hits and five runs batted in.
Paul McAnulty also had four hits with four RBIs, while Efren Navarro and Andrew Romine banged out three hits each. Meanwhile, Jeff Baisley drove in two more runs Tuesday to bring the Bees third baseman within three of a 100. He would be the 10th player in franchise history to reach the century mark in RBIs.
The 34 combined runs and 45 hits were Salt Lake franchise records. Needless to say, 23 runs and 27 hits were season highs.
Salt Lake hitters were probably tired out from all the running and hitting.
"[The park] had something to do with it," Johnson said. "The guys did a good job of taking what the pitcher gave us. We went the opposite way and used the middle of the diamond and barreled the ball up."
Twitter: @tribmarty —
Las Vegas 10, Salt Lake 1
R Las Vegas pummels Salt Lake for 16 hits, including a three-run homer by Ryan Shealy.