SALT LAKE CITY – It certainly appears that Ryan Rowland-Smith is back.

The Tacoma Rainiers starting pitcher put together the finest outing of his injury-plagued season on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City, limiting the Bees to just two runs over 7 innings and earning the victory in a game the Rainiers won, 7-6.

Rowland-Smith allowed seven hits, but only three were really hard-hit balls. He walked none and struck out seven.

“I had good command of everything, and my change-up was good tonight,” Rowland-Smith said. “It was fun to get deep in the game – that’s what I want to do every time.”

The Aussie had strikeout stuff when he needed it, punching out both Gary Patchett and Brad Coon with a runner at third base and one out in the seventh inning to protect a 4-2 lead.

“In that seventh inning, runner at third with one out, getting those strikeouts just really helps my confidence,” Rowland-Smith said.

The game started out as a real pitchers’ duel between Rowland-Smith and rising Angels prospect Trevor Bell.

Bell, 22, entered the game with a 1.24 ERA after four Triple-A starts – and he held the Rainiers to one run over the first five innings.

But Mike Carp drew a one-out walk in the sixth, and Jeff Clement followed with a long homer to right, giving Tacoma a 3-2 lead.

All-Star outfielder Bryan LaHair added a solo blast in the seventh, making it 4-2. It was LaHair’s team-leading 16th homer.

“Bell didn’t leave too many pitches up in the zone and we were lucky to get a hold of two of them,” said Tacoma manager Daren Brown.

The Rainiers tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth, and it turned out that they needed every last one.

Two infield errors – including one on a potential game-ending double play grounder to shortstop – set the stage for Salt Lake.

After four Salt Lake runs the Rainiers’ lead was 7-6, and the Bees had runners at the corners with two outs, and slugger Sean Rodriguez at the plate.

Rodriguez is tied for the PCL lead with 21 home runs, and he has 64 RBI.

Tacoma closer Randy Messenger struck out Rodriguez on a 1-2 pitch to collect his 16th save.

“It’s nice to see Messenger get a big out in Rodriguez – one of the toughest outs to get in the whole league,” said Brown.

Tacoma (40-45) earned a split of the four-game series .

Short hops

Salt Lake held a press conference prior to the game to announce that the city has been awarded the 2011 Triple-A All-Star Game. ... Catcher Adam Moore was not in the starting lineup Tuesday after having a tooth pulled earlier in the day. ... Pitcher Denny Stark, who left Monday’s game after taking a line drive off his right knee, is listed as day-to-day. ... Several Rainiers players have been battling a nasty version of the flu, with Doug Fister, Andy Baldwin, and Jerry Owens particularly affected.

On tap

The Rainiers come home to host the Portland Beavers in a five-game series, beginning with a 7 p.m. game today. Tacoma will start Baldwin (5-6, 4.78 ERA) against Portland’s Brian Lawrence (2-1, 3.64).

Mike Curto is the radio broadcaster for the Tacoma Rainiers.