YAKIMA -- En route to their 21-40 record, worst in the Northwest League, the Bears had of late shown their home fans a more proficient side.

They had, in fact, won five of their last six at Yakima County Stadium, including three straight last week.

Tuesday night, however, painful reminders were issued to those among an announced crowd of 1,862 who braved unseasonably cool temperatures and occasional rain showers.

Yakima followed one especially ugly inning with two other less-unsightly but still-damaging frames that culminated in an 8-4 loss to Tri-City.

The defeat was the third straight to the Dust Devils, who on Sunday assured Yakima its fifth consecutive losing season with an 11-inning win. They will return to Yakima for another meeting tonight before the teams move to Pasco for the series finale Thursday.

Especially troublesome for the Bears was the top of the fourth, in which 10 Dust Devils came to the plate against Bears starter Ryan Cook and erased a 2-0 Yakima lead.

And the Bears' two early runs, even, included misplays.

Their first score came when Alfredo Marte was picked off first with one out in the first inning, but he stayed in a rundown long enough for Roberto Rodriguez to score from third.

Rodriguez had singled and moved up on Marte's bloop base hit to right.

In the second, Jimmy Principe singled and alertly took second when center-fielder Charles Blackmon bobbled the ball. Principe advanced to third on Andrew Fie's fly to center, then scored on a similar out by Gerardo Bustamante.

Principe was again hustling, and needed to be since Justin Parker, on first with a walk, apparently thought there were two out before the play and had run past second.

Principe crossed the plate before Parker was doubled off first, so the run counted.

Cook, though strong though three innings, encountered immediate trouble in the fourth.

Austin Rauch started the uprising with a double, then took third on Jordan Pacheco's tapper to the mound. Cook then hit Scott Robinson, after which Leonardo Reyes smoked a double over Rodriguez's head in center to score both runs.

After Thomas Field walked, he and Reyes moved up on catcher Bustamante's throwing error, and Reyes scored when third baseman Andrew Fie bobbled Ryan Peisel's grounder.

And it could have been worse.

With the bases loaded and one out, Cook got No. 3 hitter Patrick Rose on a shallow fly to right and Rauch ended the inning with a groundout.

The Bears, however, capitalized on some shoddy moundsmanship to tie it 4-4 in the fifth.

Former starter Bradley McAtee started the inning but lasted only four hitters -- two of whom he walked to combine with Marte's single to load the bases. His successor, winning pitcher Carlos Luna (2-2), walked home one run and another scored on a wild pitch.

Yet three more walks, these by Yakima's Ben Dollar, led to a 5-4 Dust Devils lead in the sixth with Pacheco delivering the run via a sacrifice fly.

Tri-City then made it 6-4 in the eighth with a first-pitch homer by Charlie Blackmon. Though his 22nd extra-base blow this season, the blast off Jason Durst was Blackmon's first four-bagger.

The second-round draftee from Georgia Tech finished 2-for-5 and hiked his batting average to .345.

A single and two outs later, Pacheco crushed another homer, this to left, for an 8-4 Tri-City lead.

Marte, who'd been in a long slump, had two of Yakima's eight hits and improved his average to .242 and David Cooper earned his 53rd walk to tie Michael Galle (1990) and Doug Newstrom (1993) for fourth on the Bears' single-season rankings in that department.