SALT LAKE CITY – Just seeing Carlos Peguero in the opposing dugout is enough to give returning Salt Lake Bees pitchers the chills. Seeing a red-hot Peguero come to the plate must be even scarier.
Peguero homered in his fifth consecutive game Wednesday, this time launching a grand slam in the third inning, leading Tacoma to a 6-5 win over the Bees in front of a sellout crowd of 15,411.
Peguero has six home runs during the five-game flurry, giving him 18 for the season. He has played in just 49 games due to meniscus surgery that cost him four weeks.
Last year, Peguero hit a mammoth home run at Spring Mobile Ballpark – a drive that was measured 505 feet. Wednesday’s grand slam banged off the scoreboard tower in right-center field, set atop a berm 25 feet behind the outfield fence.
“I like hitting here,” said Peguero with a big smile. “It’s a good place to hit. I’m trying to not think about how the ball carries here, and just try to make contact.”
Peguero went 2-for-5, and is batting .346 over his last 14 games, with six homers.
“I’m just working hard and trying to be better every day,” said Peguero. “I’m trying to be patient and calm down my swing. Just be consistent in what I am doing, that’s all.”
The grand slam came two batters after Mike Carp singled home Carlos Triunfel to give Tacoma (36-49) a 1-0 lead. Carp was 1-for-5 in the first game of a 20-day rehabilitation assignment.
Starter Brian Sweeney did not allow a hit until the fifth inning. Then they came quickly.
A two-out, two-run homer by Paul McAnulty chased Sweeney and made it 6-4.
Bobby LaFromboise relieved Sweeney and allowed an RBI triple to Doug Deeds with one out in the seventh, cutting the lead to 6-5. The next hitter, former Rainiers and Seattle Mariners player Ryan Langerhans, lined out to first baseman Alex Liddi, who threw to third and doubled off Deeds to escape the inning.
LaFromboise followed that scare with a relatively easy eighth inning, before turning it over to Scott Patterson who delivered a perfect ninth to earn the save.”
ON TAP
The second game of the five-game series starts at 6:05 (PDT) today. In a duel of right-handers, Tacoma’s Andrew Carraway (3-3, 3.32 ERA) will oppose Salt Lake’s Matt Shoemaker (5-7, 5.28).
Mike Curto is the radio broadcaster for the Rainiers.