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Bees Can't Sweep, Lose 8-6 to Chiefs

June 1, 2012 - Midwest League (MWL) Burlington Bees

BURLINGTON, Iowa - The Burlington Bees (25-29) couldn't complete at three-game sweep over the Peoria Chiefs (24-31) and lost 8-to-6 on Friday. The Bees went down early after Brent Powers struggled in his fifth start of the season.

Brent Powers made his fourth consecutive start and fifth of the season on Friday night. The left-hander came into the game with an ERA of 9.00 when starting this season and a 13.50 ERA when pitching in the first inning. Powers continued the dubious trend and allowed two runs in the top of the first inning.

Command seemed to be the big issue for Powers in his fifth start. His five walks tied a season high he set in early April and four of the walks came in the first two innings. Powers allowed two runs in the top of the first and another run in the top of the second inning. He avoided allowing any runs in the top of the third, but still allowed two hits. The Bees trailed 3-to-0 after three innings.

Powers had already dug a hole for the Bees through three innings and the Chiefs buried the lefty in the fourth. He gave up a home run to the number nine hitter Pin-Chieh Chen and then walked Zeke DeVoss for the third time and allowed a double to Taiwan Easterling. The Bees pulled Powers with runners at second and third and one out in the fourth.

Max Perlman walked a batter to load the bases and gave up a sacrifice fly ball to leftfield that scored DeVoss. The Bees almost ended the inning on the following play when Yasiel Balaguert grounded a ball to third. But B.A. Vollmuth's throw flew right in front of the sun creeping beyond third base and first baseman Douglas Landaeta could not see the ball into his glove. Two runs scored with Perlman on the mound and the Bees trailed 6-to-0 after the top half of the fourth.

Overall Powers pitched 3.1 innings and allowed five hits, five walks, and six runs (five earned). The lefty struck out four batters, but took his fourth loss. Powers (3-4) is now 0-3 in five starts and the Bees have lost all five of the games in which Powers started. Powers has also allowed seven home runs in those five starts, which gives him the second highest total on the team.

The Bees scored a run in the bottom of the fourth when Bobby Crocker hit a sacrifice fly ball to centerfield that scored Vollmuth who was standing at third with the bases loaded. The Bees didn't score again until the sixth when Crocker drove Eliezer Mesa in with a single to centerfield. They tried to come back in the bottom of the eighth and scored two runs - one of which scored on a groundout by Crocker. By the end of the night Crocker broke out of a four-game hitless streak by going 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

The Bees only trailed 6-to-4 after eight innings, but Drew Tyson allowed two runs in the top of the ninth. The Bees still tried to come back and scored two runs on base hit by Vollmuth with one out in the ninth. But the next two batters struck out and the Bees finished with an 8-to-6 loss. The loss ended a three-game winning streak and forced the Bees to settle for 5-2 record during the seven-game home stand.

The Bees commute to Davenport to play the Quad Cities River Bandits on Saturday. First pitch of game one of three is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. For information on Bees baseball and promotions, call (319) 754-5705 or visit www.gobees.com.

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Midwest League Stories from June 1, 2012


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