Lights Out At The Dell Diamond Wrap
May 26, 2009 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Salt Lake Bees News Release
With Houston Astros General Manager Ed Wade on hand at The Dell Diamond, the right-handed Bazardo carried a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning against Salt Lake City. With the Express leading 8-0 in the bottom of the eighth, an inexplicable occurrence in the lighting system at The Dell Diamond sparked a 17-minute delay.
Round Rock went on to pick up its second straight win, 8-1, shelling out 15 hits as six different batters logged multiple hits, including outfielder Brian Bogusevic's three-hit showing.
Bazardo - who finished with six strikeouts against one walk and three hits over eight innings - has allowed a total of three earned runs on 19 hits, six walks and 18 strikeouts over his last 28 innings, picking up three consecutive wins along the way. He retired 24 of the 28 batters he faced Tuesday, trimming his ERA to 3.06.
Bazardo located 75 of his 112 pitches for strikes and was on pace for the first complete-game shutout at The Dell Diamond by an Express pitcher this season before the delay sent him to the clubhouse in the bottom of the eighth.
After picking up a ground out to start the bottom of the first, Salt Lake City starter and Houston product Brad Knox quickly unraveled.
Tommy Manzella and John Gall singled and Mark Saccomanno drew a walk before J.R. Towles ripped an RBI single through the left side. Chris Johnson followed up with another run scoring single that loaded the bases for Reggie Abercrombie, who drew a bases-loaded walk. Yordany Ramirez made it 4-0 with a force out at second.
The Bees touched Bazardo for a fruitless single in the second before Saccomanno made it a 6-0 lead with a two-run double to deep left field -- his eighth of the season.
The Express padded the lead in the seventh inning against Salt Lake City reliever Brad Salmon, picking up two runs on back-to-back doubles from Johnson and Towles and an RBI-single from Abercrombie.
Bazardo allowed just one hit between the third and seventh innings, retiring the side in order over the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Then the lights went out.
At 9:14 p.m., with Bogusevic facing hard-throwing right-handed reliever Kevin Jepsen, the stadium lights and outfield scoreboard powered down. Jepsen was in mid-delivery and fired a 95-mph fastball on the inside part of the plate. Bogusevic was able to back away from the pitch just before its delivery. He managed a one-out single when play resumed.
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