Calhoun hits memorable July 4 blast

Kole Calhoun managed to combine both literal and figurative fireworks on this Fourth of July.

Triple-A Salt Lake, like many teams throughout the Minors with a night game Thursday, had a postgame fireworks presentation planned in honor of Independence Day.

Before they could get to the literal pyrotechnic display, though, Calhoun provided the figurative fireworks with a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning to propel the Bees past the Tacoma Rainiers, 7-3.

"I really wasn't trying to do too much and I ended up hitting it well. To have a grand slam on the Fourth of July is pretty special," Calhoun told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Matt Long set the stage with a leadoff triple off Rainiers reliever Josh Kinney, leading to intentional walks to the next two batters, Tommy Field and Andrew Romine.

Bobby LaFromboise replaced Kinney to face Calhoun, but the fifth-ranked Angels prospect promptly smacked the first offering he saw beyond the right-field fence.

The shot was Calhoun's seventh home run this season and brought his RBI total for the year to 35. He finished the game 2-for-5.

In 41 games, he's hitting .325/.402/.548. He also has eight steals in nine attempts.

Jarrett Grube did not factor into the decision for Salt Lake after yielding three runs on five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. Daniel Stange (3-0) picked up the win with a perfect inning of relief.

Efren Navarro, Chris Nelson and Long contributed the other RBIs for the Bees.

"We did enough good things to put ourselves in a position to win, and obviously Kole's hit was a little bit more than we needed, but much welcome," said Bees manager Keith Johnson.