The home run - Bakersfield hit three of them off Lancaster starter Marino Santana (5-9).Through most of their first seven meetings this season, it was always about the JetHawks, taking big leads, taking victories.
Take, take, take.
It was Lancaster's chance to give Wednesday night, and they didn't like it.
The Blaze took advantage of an off-night by the JetHawks, rallying for a 10-7 victory in front of a paid attendance of 4,230 at The Hangar.
"We didn't play good baseball tonight," Lancaster manager Dave Brundage said. "It's disappointing. We gave them runs right and left. We gave them runs every way we could."
Let's count the ways the Blaze - last in the California League in hitting - won their second game of the second half.
The home run - Bakersfield hit three of them off Lancaster starter Marino Santana (5-9).
The bases-loaded walk - Twice ex-Palmdale High standout Chris Paxton drew a walk to force in a run, including the one giving the Blaze a 10-7 lead in the ninth after the JetHawks had cut the lead to one in the eighth.
The error - Yep, the Blaze did that, too, when Andreaus Lewis scored from third with one out in the fifth. Third baseman Carlos Villalobos threw wildly home as Lewis scored the fifth run of the inning as Bakersfield took an 8-5 lead.
The wild pitch - The Blaze's Josh Watts sprinted home on Todd Niemeier's errant pitch in the ninth, giving the Blaze an insurance run they didn't even need; the JetHawks went down in order in the ninth against reliever Dalton Maine, the last two by strikeout.
"You can learn from our mistakes, because we made plenty tonight," Brundage said. "You hate to say chalk it up to learning, because we're 70, 80 ball games into the season."
The JetHawks (3-5) scored twice in the eighth to cut into Bakersfield's 8-5 lead.
Jesus Marquez scored on reliever Bob Oldham's wild pitch for the first run in the inning, and Andy Augustine's RBI single scored Scot Sealy to make it 8-7.
Bakersfield scored five times in the sixth, after the JetHawks had taken a 5-3 lead in the fifth, to take an 8-5 lead.
Santana gave up two singles and hit a batter before being relieved by John Daniels.
The normally reliable Daniels (five saves, 2.36 ERA) walked former Paxton on four pitches to force in one run, and another scored on a fielder's choice.
Daniels hit Lewis with a pitch and two more runs came in on Alex Cabrera's single to right that broke a 5-5 tie.
Bakersfield scored its last run in the rally when Lewis scored from third on Villalobos' 24th error of the season.
Juan Espinal hit his team-leading 14th homer to lead off the second, and two batters later designated hitter Doug Collier ripped his third of the season. Paxton hit the Blaze's third homer with one out in the fourth, his fifth of the season, to take a 3-1 lead.
The JetHawks had taken a 1-0 lead in the first on Marquez's sacrifice fly that scored Jason Cook.
Shane Monahan became on of the three JetHawks left on base in the first three innings when he was stranded at third in the first inning.
Bakersfield's Toure Knighton, who gave up six earned runs in five innings in a 10-1 loss in his last appearance against the JetHawks on May 27, had only one bad inning this time.
Lancaster scored four times in the fifth to take a 5-3 lead.