Stars beat Buzz 1-0 in 12 innings to end losing streak

      They finally received a tremendous performance from a starting pitcher.
      And a day after suffering its only loss of the season, the bullpen bounced back with a solid effort.
      Yet there were the slumping Stars in the 12th inning Tuesday night, staring at a bunch of zeroes on the Cashman Field scoreboard, wondering if their losing streak would ever end.
      It did.
      Pinch-hitter Jim Tatum came off the bench with two outs in the 12th and whacked a single to left field to score Chad Tredaway and give Las Vegas a 1-0 victory over the Salt Lake Buzz.
      Tatum's hit off Salt Lake reliever Brian Looney (0-2) snapped what is believed to be the only 0-0 extra-inning game in Cashman history. The hit also snapped an eight-game losing streak as the Stars prevented a four-game sweep by winning for the first time since April 26.
      "This is a big win. We needed to get something out of this," said Tatum, pinch-hitting for catcher Eric Helfand. "Hopefully, this will start us on a roll."
      Las Vegas' pitching certainly was on a roll Tuesday, as starter Jim Bruske and three relievers combined to allow the Buzz just five hits one night after Salt Lake pounded out 13 in a 10-6 victory.
      However, Buzz starter Travis Miller and two relievers were equally as tough, holding the Stars to nine hits while foiling three scoring opportunities before the chess match ended in the 12th.
      With one out and Looney on the mound, Tredaway lined a double just inside the left-field line. After Looney struck out Jorge Velandia for the second out, Las Vegas manager Jerry Royster summoned Tatum from the bench.
      With first base open, Salt Lake manager Phil Roof went to the mound, presumably to discuss the option of intentionally walking Tatum and facing Homer Bush. Roof elected to let Looney pitch to Tatum, who lined a 1-0 pitch to left field, and Tredaway scored easily.
      "Yeah, I was surprised," Tatum said about Roof's decision to pitch to him. "Then again, I can't worry about that. My job is to go up there and get something I can drive to try to get a hit to win the game. You can't really concern yourself with (the decision), but looking back on it, yeah, there was a base open. But Homer might have been due, because he didn't have any hits."
      Although Tatum got the winning hit, he was not the only hero for the Stars (12-19).
      Bruske, making his third start of the season, was phenomenal as he faced just one batter over the minimum in eight innings, the longest outing by a Stars pitcher this season.
      Jamie Ogden's one-out single in the fifth and Mike Durant's two-out single in the sixth were the lone hits off Bruske. The right-hander's only other blemishes came when he beaned Ryan Radmanovich in the third and walked Jon Shave in the fourth.
      Bruske, who finished with seven strikeouts, gave way to the bullpen in the ninth, and the relievers held Salt Lake (17-15) in check.
      Brian Drahman allowed two hits in two innings; Jim Baron retired the only two batters he faced; and Todd Schmitt, who gave up four runs in the ninth to allow Salt Lake to win Monday's game, surrendered only a two-out, 11th-inning single in 1 1/3 innings. Schmitt (2-0) earned the victory.
      "That's just an outstanding game by Bruske and the bullpen," Royster said. "We knew it would be a low-scoring game today, but I didn't think (Bruske) would be able to go eight shutout innings. And our bullpen did what it always does. (Monday) was a fluke. I'm telling you, you can't get on those guys. Those guys came right back."
      -- NOTES -- The Stars are off today and begin a four-game series at Albuquerque on Thursday.