As soon as the ball got past Helena catcher Shawn Zarraga, Alex Oliveras saw a golden opportunity to give his team the lift it desperately needed.

Per the Billings Mustangs' current trend, however, what looked like a sure thing was their downfall in a 6-5 loss to the Brewers Friday night at Dehler Park.

Representing the tying run at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Oliveras was thrown out trying to score on a Michael Fiers pitch that eluded Zarraga and went to the backstop.

As Oliveras bolted for home, Zarraga got to the ball and flipped it to Fiers covering at the plate, where he tagged Oliveras for the second out of the inning.

And following a Yen-Wen Kuo strikeout a few pitches later, the Mustangs went home on the short end yet again.

"Talking to Delino, he said, 'Are you going to go if the ball gets through?"' Oliveras said. "I thought the ball was going to go a little bit farther."

The Delino in this equation was Mustangs' third base coach Delino DeShields.

No matter what advice the veteran of 13 major league seasons could provide Oliveras, the Mustangs' center fielder made what he considered to be the right move as a base runner.

"It's just part of the game," Oliveras said. "You're just thinking about winning. We've had a rough couple days, just ups and downs."

Indeed, the Mustangs have struggled mightily to open the season. The loss served as their third in a row and sent their plummeting record to 2-9 at the bottom of the Pioneer League's North Division.

A night after a ninth-inning marred by errors and poor pitching derailed their chance to find the win column, the Mustangs looked ready to turn the tables on Helena.

Oliveras got a break leading off the ninth when second baseman Cutter Dykstra dropped his pop fly in shallow right field.

With Oliveras on second base, designated hitter Mark Fleury laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt and Billings was in business.

"It's a good play by Oliveras," said Mustangs manager Julio Garcia. "As soon as he saw that ball get through he took off. It was a good reaction by the catcher and obviously a good play by the pitcher holding on to the ball."

Fleury, making his professional debut after the Cincinnati Reds made him a fourth-round selection in the MLB draft in June, had a single and an RBI.

Fleury, out of the University of North Carolina, should figure into the Mustangs' catching rotation with Chris McMurray and Trey Manz still sidelined with injuries.

Humberto Sosa has been Billings' regular catcher thus far, and he continued to swing a torrid bat.

Sosa went 2-for-4 with a single and a double and drove in a run. He is 11-for-23 in his last six games.

Starter Leonardo Astorga gave up eight hits and four earned runs in three innings and did not figure into the deci-sion.

Helena starter Nick Bucci earned his second victory while Fiers locked down his second save.

The Mustangs will host Missoula today at 4 p.m. at Dehler Park.

It is the first game of a two-game set before the team embarks on a seven-game road trip beginning in Orem on Tuesday.

NOTES: Fleury played in 66 games this year at North Carolina, which included a third consecutive trip to the Col-lege World Series in Omaha, Neb. Fleury hit .309 with 12 homers and 60 RBIs for the Tar Heels in 2009. ... Helena DH Joey Paciorek was ejected in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Derrick Brooks for arguing balls and strikes. Helena's Edgar Trejo was ejected a night earlier. ... Mustangs shortstop Shane Carlson was promoted to Class A Sara-sota on Friday. Replacing him on the roster is Mariekson Gregorius from the Gulf Coast Reds.