By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
BAKERSFIELD - Temporarily dazed and mightily confused, the Lancaster JetHawks are heading home.
Not too soon.
In a bizarre ending to a 12game trip already full of strange twists and turns, the JetHawks lost a pitcher and manager to ejection, then scored six runs in an inning to cut a seven-run lead to one, before finally losing in front of a sparse crowd of 787 at Sam Lynn Ballpark.
Right-hander Robby Christianson, who arrived earlier in the day from extended spring training for his second go-around with the JetHawks, was tossed out of the game after hitting Blaze catcher Yorvit Torrealba with two outs and nobody on in the fourth.
Home plate umpire Brian Runge also gave Lancaster manager Rick Burleson his first ejection of the year after tossing Christianson.
Christianson was in his first inning of relief for starter Damaso Marte, who had his second sub-par performance in a row. Marte gave up four runs and eight hits in just three innings.
The ejection of Christianson couldn't have come at a worse time for the JetHawks, who are thin on pitching and were counting on a middle reliever to eat up some innings after Marte's short start.
Lesli Brea, a right-hander who just joined the club out of extended spring, came in to replace Christianson and gave up a mammoth two-run home run to Damon Minor.
For Minor, it was his California League-leading 13th homer of the season. For the JetHawks, it was a bitter pill to swallow following the swift ejections.
Marte also was a victim of the long ball. He gave up a two-run homer to Pedro Felix that gave Bakersfield a 4-0 lead in the third.
It was the second homer in two nights for Felix, who extended a string of reaching base safely to eight plate appearances (five hits and three walks) on a run-scoring double in the sixth.
The JetHawks chipped away with a one run in the fourth and fifth, then got to Blaze starter Jason Myers with six runs in the sixth.
Miguel Correa led off with a walk, then went to second on Carlos Villalobos' single (the hit extended Villalobos' batting streak to nine games).
Dusty Wathan hit a two-run double into the gap in right-center field to cut the lead to 9-4, and then Wathan moved to third on Shawn Buhner's single.
Wathan scored on a throwing error by the third baseman Felix, who fielded Yuni Kim's grounder and threw wildly home while the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Wathan gave Torrealba a wake-up call with a forearm shiver.
That wasn't the end of the JetHawks' comeback. David Skeels had a sacrifice fly to make it 9-6, and three batters later Chris Dean doubled home two runs off Myers' replacement, Jeff Hutzler, to cut the lead to just one run.
Bakersfield counterpunched with a run in the sixth on Felix's RBI double and a run in the seventh on Torrealba's single through a drawn-in infield that made it 11-8.
Hutzler also was a breath of fresh air for a beleagured Blaze bullpen that gave up eight runs Tuesday. He struck out the side in the seventh and retired the side in order on three groundouts in the eighth.