Baseball: Evans homers, but Salt Lake Bees lose

Terry Evans is approaching rarefied baseball air, a select club that celebrates the fusion of speed and power.

Yet, the destination, should Evans manage it -- and it will take a bit of heavy lifting -- is not new to the Salt Lake outfielder. In 2006, while playing for Palm Beach, Springfield and Arkansas, Evans became the 13th minor leaguer since 1981 to club 30 home runs and steal 30 bases, according to reference site Baseballcube.com,

"If I hit six more homers and get on base enough to steal six bases, that means I'm finishing pretty strong," Evans said. "[It's important] especially since we're so close in the playoffs. I'm more concerned about driving in runs."

Tuesday night, despite Salt Lake dropping an 8-4 decision to visiting Nashville at Spring Mobile Ballpark, the Bees moved to within 31/2 games of Colorado Springs, which dropped a doubleheader. Tacoma, though, has moved into a tie with Salt Lake.

Evans parked team-leading No. 24 of the season over the right field wall. The opposite-field clout gave the Bees a short-lived 1-0 first-inning lead.

Following that, Salt Lake suffered through a series of mental and physical miscues that were nearly as counterproductive as the Utah Jazz Bear holding up play with his on-diamond antics. This included Bees starter Brad Salmon being late covering first on a grounder through the hole between first and second, and Salt Lake stranding 11 runners in scoring position.

The members of the minor league 30-30 club are by turns famous and forgettable, ranging from Darryl Strawberry and Andruw Jones to Ken Gerhart and Brad Komminsk. With 26 games to play in the PCL season, Evans, who is hitting .291 with 80 runs driven in, is short six steals and six homers.

"I feel like that is something extra that happens during the season," Evans said. "It's not a goal I set. Some of the guys have been talking about it a lot, in an encouraging way: 'You've got it, easy.'"

In 2006, Evans hit 15 homers at Palm Springs and seven at Springfield. Then, after the St. Louis Cardinals traded Evans to the Los Angeles Angels for Jeff Weaver, he hit 11 more in Arkansas.

Following a solid season for Arkansas and Salt Lake in 2007, the Angels called up Evans for a short stint, where his lone hit in eight games was, of course, a home run.

martyr@sltrib.com