Salt Lake starter Shane Loux (5-2) pitches eight innings and retires 21 of the final 25 batters he faces.
    A seven-run inning is always good medicine.
    Salt Lake's outburst in the fifth inning of Thursday's 7-3 win at Franklin Covey Field against Albuquerque could not have come at a better time for the suddenly ailing Bees.
    The law of averages were finally closing in on Salt Lake, which has lost five of its last six games. It was bound to happen, seeing that the Bees had won 24 of their first 26 games, something no other minor league team had ever done.
    Salt Lake (26-7) sent 13 men to the plate in the fifth inning, managed four walks and five hits - including a sacrifice bunt that the Isotopes (18-15) couldn't field - to nickel and dime their way to victory.
    "We started off slow again," manager Bobby Mitchell said. "We're still not there yet, though we hit more balls hard."
    Bees shortstop Gary Patchett's deep fly to left just eluded John Gall and brought in two runs. Then starter Shane Loux (5-2) shook off early trouble and retired 21 of the last 25 hitters he faced to halt a personal two-game losing skid.
    "This is the third or fourth start where I gave up a run in the first inning," Loux said. "It's not lack of preparation. After the third or fourth inning, I felt good."
    As the pitching has
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leaked a bit, runs have also become scarce. Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez are with the Angels, while Terry Evans is nursing a bruised shoulder. That's a lot of missing offense.
    Salt Lake had averaged three runs during the six games coming into Thursday's game, while the opponent was scoring nearly six runs. The Bees just managed six hits or less.
    "We knew we weren't going to play at the same pace," Mitchell said Wednesday. "My feeling is we weren't as good as were and we're not as bad as we're playing now."
    martyr@sltrib.com