Fans who stuck out an hour long rain delay got more than their money's worth last night at Mitchell Field.

After the skies opened up delaying first pitch between the Swift Current 57s and Melville Millionaires, the 57s worked a come-from behind 5-4 walk-off victory over the visiting Millionaires.

Melville struck first with a single run in the top of the first inning, but catcher Ben Komonosky cashed in a run on an RBI double - it was his first hit in his first at-bat with the 57s, making his debut last night.

The Millionaires jumped out to a 4-1 lead with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning.

That spelled the end of starter Carter Buuck's day, as he exited the game after 5-2/3 innings giving up four earned runs on seven hits, but dissecting the Millionaires lineup to the tune of 11 strikeouts.

"He was outstanding - he had three pitches for strikes he could throw any count, he's mixing well," said head coach Joe Carnahan. "Him and Ben worked well together - it was a good game."

With nature interrupting the start of the game, Buuck (picture below) said it was kind of a weird start.

"Having to get warmed up, and then you have an hour rain delay, so you kind of got to adjust your mindset," he said. "I had to re-warm up, which is never easy to do as a pitcher. We had our new catcher behind the plate Ben - he was awesome, the defense was great behind me. I thought I had great command of all my pitches today, everything seemed to be working."

The 57s cut the deficit to two runs in the home half of the inning on an RBI single off the bat of Dauson Tate (pictured below executing a tag at third base).

That's when some bad bounces began to swing in Swift's favour. A trio of sloppy plays by the Millionaires cashed in the 57s' final three runs.

Jered Binsfield sprinted home from third base in the bottom of the eighth inning after Melville catcher Justin Braziel made an errant throw over the head of the pitcher, which brought the score to 4-3.

The score was tied in the bottom of the ninth as another Melville throwing error, this time attempting to polish off a double play, allowed Bryan Benz to reach home safely.

However, a scoreless outing by three 57s relievers made the comeback possible - especially a scoreless ninth inning by reliever Matt Fiorini.

"That was big. Matt came in, we kicked a ball that inning... things could have went south that inning," Carnahan said. "He stayed poised on the mound, and got a big out there with the bases loaded."

Then in the tenth and final inning, the 57s strung together a balanced burst of luck and execution.

Binsfield reached first base on a throwing error by the Millionaires shortstop to start the run.

Tate laid down a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt to advance Binsfield to second base, claiming the first out of the inning.

With first base open, an intentional walk was issued on Jerad Dokey to bring the potential for a double play into the mix.

The ninth hitter in the lineup, Anthony Stewart, hit an infield single to load the bases, leading to the unconventional walk-off win.

With the clock merely minutes away from striking midnight at Mitchell Field, leadoff hitter Ethan Hunter was struck with an errant pitch to cash in Binsfield from third, clinching the 57s win.

"It's very big," said Tate. "We talked a lot our last game about doing the little things right - as far as fighting with two strikes, hustling down the bags, getting an actual bunt down and not popping it up. Today it was showing that we did most of those things the right way. You do the little things right, and the scores 5-4 right now."

The third baseman/catcher says it was also a step in the right direction in terms of a playing a complete game.

"Defence stuck strong, our pitching stuck strong, our bats came through in the end right there. Towards the end our bullpen got it done for us. We followed through with somehow getting hit with the bases loaded for a walkoff hit-by-pitch. It was a game where all the way through it was not perfect, but clean."

Several dozen fans remained into the dying minutes of June 14 as the temperature dropped near single digits, a fraction of the 229 that sat in the stands for the first pitch by Carter Buuck.

"It's awesome, we think the fans here are great. Every time they can come out and support it really rallies us," Buuck said. "You have to give a huge thank you to the fans who not only stuck out an hour rain delay, but they stuck out an extra inning game. We came back late so there was a lot of down time. For them to stick around, that means the world to us - to be able to win for them, it means even more."

The 57s jump to 4-8 on the year with a win that, despite being just 12 games into a 48-game regular season, seemed to have an importance that was felt throughout the dugout.

After Tuesday's loss to the visiting Okotoks Dawgs, last night's win snapped a stretch of five straight losses as home.

"We had a big talk just with the players, and kind of wanted to establish who we were as a team," said Buuck of the post-game message after the loss to Okotoks.

"We have a lot of grit and a lot of talent, we just need to put those together - I think you really saw that tonight, everything kind of coming together. I think we're going to start seeing some big things from this team and we're going to get on a roll here."

As important and as nice as heavy run support and home runs are, the key to reaching consistency and getting in the win column more often starts before, and after, the (usual) nine innings of work on the diamond.

"The little things," said Tate. "We've got to keep doing the little things right, as far as getting the field tarped when it needs to be tarped, putting the balls back where they should be - not just in-game play, the little stuff outside the field. If we keep doing those things right, then the season is going to continue to roll the way we want it to roll."

Looking to win two games in a row for just the second time this season, the 57s host the Millionaires once again tonight at 7:05 p.m. to end the brief two-game set.