The dog days of August — and the Tacoma Rainiers' hitters — are taking a bite out of the Albuquerque Isotopes' pitching staff.
Tacoma blasted four more home runs in a 13-9 victory over Albuquerque in front of 10,474 fans at Isotopes Park.
"It was one where we came so close, yet were so far away," manager Lorenzo Bundy said.
The Isotopes (58-56) held a brief 7-5 lead after the fourth inning, only to see the Rainiers (57-57) score three in the fifth and put the game away with a five-run outburst in the eighth.
Albuquerque could only counter with one run in the eighth on Tim Federowicz's solo home run and one in the ninth as Russ Mitchell tripled and scored on Jerry Sands' groundout to first base.
"I was glad to see us score late, but it was kind of like the ballgame (Thursday) night," Bundy said. "We got close and then we had like four innings where offensively we were shut down, we didn't do anything. We're a better club than that offensively, especially here in this ballpark.
"We shouldn't go three or four innings and not score. I expect a little more from my hitters."
Third baseman Ivan De Jesus Jr. and reliever Joe Newby did not help the cause, as they combined for five errors.
"Ivan had a tough night at third," Bundy said. "He was very lackadaisical over there.
"This time right here, they can swing the bats. When you give them extra outs, you're looking for trouble."
Starter Randy Keisler (6-6) was roughed up for eight runs — seven earned — on six hits and three walks while striking out four over five innings.
Newby held the Rainiers scoreless for the sixth and seventh, despite the two errors, but he ran into trouble in the eighth, leaving with runners at the corners and two outs.
Roman Colon came on and gave up a two-run double to Wily Mo Pena and a two-run homer to Carlos Peguero.
"Newby did a pretty decent job for us other than his PFP, pitcher's fielding practice," Bundy said.
Alex Liddi and Pena, who combined for Tacoma's five home runs Thursday, went homerless Friday. Their teammates made up for it as Jose Yepez, Matt Tuiasosopo, Mike Wilson and Peguero all went deep.
"We put ourselves in this position," Bundy said. "We didn't play well.
"For us to be in the ballgame was kind of a miracle. I wasn't happy with the way we played."
Albuquerque did have some positives offensively. Mitchell was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, Justin Sellers went 2-for-3 with three runs and a solo home run and John Lindsey was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer.
The Isotopes will try to salvage a split of the four-game series Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
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