Wind keeps D'Antona from PCL history

Jamie D'Antona had never homered twice in a game before Friday night. If it wasn't for a change in wind direction, he may have become the first Pacific Coast League player in more than a decade to hit four in a single contest.

The 26-year-old designated hitter went deep in each of his first three at-bats and drove in a season-high five runs as the Tucson Sidewinders beat the Salt Lake Bees, 8-5, before an enthusiastic crowd of 15,514 at Franklin Covey Field.

"It was something special," D'Antona admitted after flirting with history. "Hell, I was just happy to hit one."

D'Antona, who ranks second in the PCL with a .383 average, had managed just one homer in his previous 13 games before following Trent Oeltjen's two-run blast in the first inning with his 11th longball of the year.

He connected for two-run shots in the second and fifth to give himself at least a pair of chances at the PCL's first four-homer performance since Las Vegas' Eddie Williams accomplished the feat against Calgary on April 22, 1998.

With strong backing from the Independence Day crowd, the Diamondbacks' second-round pick in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft came to the plate in the seventh and lifted an opposite-field drive that died on the warning track before falling into the glove of right fielder Adam Pavkovich.

"Unfortunately, the wind started changing," said D'Antona, who insisted he was not thinking of hitting a fourth homer during the at-bat. "If it was early in the game, I think it would have went out. I hit it better than the third [homer], but it just didn't go."

D'Antona got one more opportunity with a man on first and none out in the ninth, but reliever Kevin Jepsen struck him out, eliciting groans of disappointment from Bees fans before another ovation.

"It tells you a lot about the fans here," D'Antona said. "They are really good fans and they know baseball."

The five RBIs were one shy of D'Antona's career high, established on May 17, 2007, against Tacoma.

Although he's already matched his 2007 home run total with almost two months remaining in the season, D'Antona refuses to alter his approach in search of better power numbers.

"I'm not a big home run guy," he said. "I'm usually in the 15- to 18-homer range with a lot of doubles."

It was the fourth three-homer game in the PCL this season. Nashville's Russell Branyan had one on May 16, Las Vegas' John Lindsey did it the next day and Albuquerque's Dallas McPherson also went deep three times on May 19.

Don Kelly fell a triple shy of the cycle and Oeltjen finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored for Tucson (36-53).

A.J. Shappi (1-2) was the beneficiary of D'Antona's outburst, picking up his first win of the season after 26 appearances, including four starts. The 25-year-old right-hander allowed four runs -- one earned -- on six hits with one strikeout over five innings. Jailen Peguero fanned one in a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Salt Lake starter Dustin Moseley (4-5) surrendered seven runs on eight hits over five frames, striking out six.

Freddy Sandoval belted a two-run homer for the Bees (53-34), who had a three-game winning streak snapped.