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Bullpen no relief to Sky Sox

For 90 games, the Sky Sox bullpen seemed invisible. That’s just how it goes — the best ’pens draw little attention.

But Saturday night, as has been the case in all three games since the All-Star break, the late innings saw Colorado Springs hemorrhaging runs and zapping any chance the offense had of closing a gap in a 6-4 loss to Fresno.

“It’s frustrating, I don’t know what’s going on,” said Ben Julianel (2-1), who look the loss after surrendering a pair of seventh-inning runs in relief of starter Adam Eaton. “I just don’t know how it is that we’ve fallen into this funk.”

The bullpen has allowed 10 runs in 11 innings over the past three games, though three of the runs were unearned.

It’s not what the team has come to expect from a unit that brought a 3.94 ERA into Saturday’s game — an impressive mark in a hitters’ league and more than a full run lower than the team’s starters.

“They’ve been going well all year, but they’ve got to learn how to make adjustments,” manager Stu Cole said. “When things are going bad, they’ve just got to find a way to get the job done.”

The Sky Sox (51-42), whose lead in the Pacific Coast League Pacific North is down to three games over Salt Lake, have lost four in a row for only the second time this year — and both streaks have come in July.

“In the first few months after I got here we were just unbeatable, especially here at home,” Julianel said. “If a team beat us, it was because somebody really threw a great game against us or something like that. It’s frustrating to see our lead, which was over six games for a while, shrinking like it is. But that’s just baseball; we’re still a confident team.”

MAJOR LEAGUE MOMENT

There were plenty to choose from on a spectacular defensive night.

The Sky Sox turned in three big-league plays with Dan Ortmeier making a diving stab to his right at first base, Eric Young Jr. starting a double play at second base on a ball hit so hard he couldn’t possibly have fielded it had he not been covering second on an attempted steal and Chris Frey tracking down a smash hit so far from his spot in center field that the runner from first had crossed home plate by the time the ball got back to first to double him off.

But the top moment came on the game’s final play when Fresno left fielder Eugenio Velez made a diving catch on a Matt Murton line drive that likely would have brought the tying run home.

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