Team has fans making a beeline for ballpark

SALT LAKE CITY -- It was clear something was going on when Sunday attendance started climbing.

That day is largely set aside for religious observance here, leaving pockets of seats empty at Franklin Covey Field, home to the Angels’ triple-A affiliate.

But for the first Sunday home game this season, more than 8,000 fans showed up, some sprawled on blankets and towels beyond the outfield wall. The crowd nearly doubled the average Sunday attendance last season.

And it wasn’t just to catch a glimpse of the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains.

The Bees triumphed in their first eight games, dropped their home opener and proceeded to go on another 13-game win streak to start the season 21-1. That, by all accounts, is the best start in Pacific Coast League history, dating back more than a century.

“Usually, it’s pretty quiet around here Sundays,” outfielder Terry Evans said with a laugh. “We have a couple of fans that come here every Sunday and you can hear them throughout the whole ballpark because there’s not that many people here. Then, this past Sunday, there was a great crowd.”

Angels fans, your future is bright.

The Bees have blown teams out. Squeaked out narrow wins. Had their share of walk-off wins. And when they were down, 6-0, to start a game against the Fresno Grizzlies, they yawned and scored six runs in the bottom of the first before winning, 11-10, in 10 innings.

They’ve already thrown four shutouts; last year’s staff tossed only two all season. And they lead the league in hitting and pitching.

“Every team is loaded with players, especially at this level,” catcher Bobby Wilson said. “To do what we’ve done so far is definitely special. It’s been somebody different every day. Somebody stepping up and doing the job.”

Imagine how good they would be if the Angels would stop raiding them.

Infielders Sean Rodriguez and Brandon Wood, outfielder Reggie Willits and pitcher Nick Adenhart are all with the big club now to help the Angels combat a slew of injuries, after spending chunks of the start of the season here.

Others, like infielders Matt Brown and Kendry Morales, have been called up and sent down.

“We are losing different guys each time,” said Manager Bobby Mitchell. “Rodriguez and Morales and then they come back. We lose Wood and Brown and then Adenhart goes up. It’s kind of been a roller coaster, but guys are just staying on an even keel and doing a good job.”

Adenhart, the organization’s top pitching prospect, said the up-and-down, back-and-forth existence turned into a playful joke.

“When somebody would get called, it would be, ‘Oh, they’re trying to make us lose. They’re taking our second baseman, they take our shortstop, they take our catcher. They’re trying to make us lose,’ ” he said. “And then we’d end up winning. [Another] guy would step in and have a big game.”

They probably also will break the record for a team to say “even keel” the most times. Win or lose -- well, they haven’t lost all that much -- it’s the same mind frame.

“When you went into the game you just knew that you probably weren’t going to lose,” Willits said. “It wasn’t a situation where everybody was just bragging about it or anything like that. Everybody just went about their business and played the game the way it was supposed to be played.”

The Angels have already gained a reputation for developing depth and youth, and word of the start has already resonated back in Anaheim. So much so that Angels Manager Mike Scioscia jokingly said the team would have to release Kasey Olenberger after the right-hander was saddled with the Bees’ first loss.

“There’s a number of those players that have been up here and down there at some point,” said Angels General Manager Tony Reagins. “It’s already been tested because of our injury problem and they’ve done well for us.”

Since the 21-1 start, they’ve come back down to earth, splitting 12 games. Entering Saturday night’s game, their record stood at 27-7. But this is Salt Lake City, where elevation tops 4,000 feet, and the team is still riding high.

“We haven’t had too many downs,” Evans said. “We lost three in a row and that was our lowest point all season. But even with the wins, we had a couple of walk-off wins and everybody gets all excited, and then the next day, it’s even keel. So, it’s the same routine every day, same attitude. That’s a big credit to why we are doing so well.”

And well for this team could be breaking the 100-win mark. It was last reached in the minor leagues when the Greenville Braves, managed by Grady Little, went 100-43 in 1992.

“The Jazz playoff run seems to obviously dominate things, then after that, the media seems to think it’s more important we worry about whether the coach will keep his job with the Arena League football team, or the soccer team [Real Salt Lake], or high school tiddlywinks,” said Steve Klauke, the team’s radio announcer for all 15 years the franchise has been here.

“But slowly but surely, they are starting to pay attention.”

Times staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com