This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In the grand scheme of a long season, a 9-1 loss to the Tucson Padres does absolutely nothing to the Salt Lake Bees.
Big picture, the Bees handily won the four-game series, taking the first three. A single defeat doesn't do much to offset the hot pitching and solid hitting. Indeed, Salt Lake enjoyed a successful start to its Pacific Coast League schedule at Spring Mobile Ballpark.
"We can't get too down on ourselves," manager Keith Johnson said. "I thought we played very well this weekend, and there are a lot of games this year. We have to move on, and we have to look ahead to the next series. The goal is to win three of four there as well."
At the same time, the Bees would do well to clean up the mistakes that enabled Tucson to score nine consecutive runs Sunday against Johnson's team. There were three errors, each of them leading directly to Padre runs. The Bees left six runners on base, and they never showed the kind of timely hitting and aggressive baseball that enabled them to dominate Tucson in the first three games.
As a result, the 3,550 who attended saw a game that was close only through the first four innings. The Padres broke it open with two runs in the fifth inning — giving them a 4-1 advantage — and three runs in the top of the seventh, which put the game out of reach.
"It was little mistakes that we needed to clean up," Salt Lake leadoff hitter Matt Young said. "If we didn't have those errors, then maybe this is a different game. I think we have to come out with better focus. But we have to just move on as well."
In the series finale, the Bees scattered seven hits, but no player had more than one. Tommy Field's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second inning accounted for Salt Lake's only run.
Travis Buck went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI to lead the Padres.
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Padres 9, Bees 1
P The Bees suffer their first loss of the season.
• Matt Shoemaker (0-1) pitches six innings and surrenders three earned runs in the loss.
• Thad Weber notches his first win of the year for Tucson.