Photo: Bees pitcher Kyle Tyler allowed one hit over five innings. (Steve Cirinna/Burlington Bees)
By John Bohnenkamp
Jack Howell knows the pulse of his team.
The Burlington Bees manager figured Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Beloit Snappers was coming.
The Bees snapped a three-game losing streak, a perfect bounce-back from Wednesday’s lackluster 5-1 defeat.
“A much better performance,” Howell said. “Timely hits, good pitching. Totally different game. Better hitting, and our pitching was back to what we expected.”
The Bees (53-49 overall, 14-18 second half) built a 5-0 lead, breaking open the game with a three-run seventh, then had to survive a three-run eighth inning by the Snappers (37-62, 10-21).
Kyle Tyler (6-0) mastered five innings, allowing one hit while facing the minimum. He threw just 45 pitches on a piggyback night with reliever Dylan King.
“Tyler was outstanding. Very efficient,” Howell said.
King ran into trouble in the eighth, but all three runs charged to him were unearned because the Bees made two errors in the inning. Greg Veliz closed the inning, then pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
The Bees scored in the first on an RBI single by Adrian Rondon, then added a run in the fourth when Francisco Del Valle doubled to score Spencer Griffin.
The big inning was the seventh. Kevin Maitan’s double brought in Livan Soto, then Rondon drilled a bouncing single up the middle through the drawn-in infield that scored Jordyn Adams and Maitan.
Rondon, who joined the Bees over the weekend, is hitting .450 since his arrival.
“Early sample size, it seems like he has the ability with two strikes to just shorten up and barrel the baseball,” Howell said. “He just barrels it, the swing doesn’t change through the at-bat — 2-2, 3-2, he seems like the same guy.”
Tyler wasn’t going to be touched. He threw just eight pitches, seven for strikes, in the first inning.
Tyler threw 33 strikes in his five innings.
“He was working it,” Howell said. “I don’t think he was even sweating.”
Angello Infante (1-2) took the loss.
ON DECK: The two teams conclude the three-game series with a 6:30 p.m. game on Friday. Burlington’s Hector Yan (4-3) faces Beloit’s Jhenderson Hurtado (0-0).
NOTES: Adams went 2-for-3 and scored two runs. He is batting .349 over his last 10 games. … Adams has an 11-game on-base streak at home. … Del Valle and catcher Keinner Pina each have five-game hitting streaks. Del Valle is batting .333 over his streak. … Beloit right fielder Nick Osborne has a 17-game on-base streak, third-longest currently in the Midwest League.
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