It might not seem like much of a winning streak, but both the Quakes and 66ers are on streaks.

The Quakes held on for an 8-7 victory at Visalia on Friday, their third in a row. Meanwhile, the Sixers won their second straight, 6-2 over visiting Bakersfield.

It marked the first time since last July 3-4 that both the Quakes and Sixers simultaneously won  back-to-back games.

On Friday, Darwin Perez was 4-for-4 and Roberto Lopez drove in four runs for the Quakes, but they almost let an 8-5 lead slip away in the ninth.

Visalia loaded the bases on a single, double and a walk with on outs against Eddie McKiernan, who entered the game with seven straight scoreless appearances. A fielder’s choice scored one run, and a balk scored another and put the tying run on second. But Kyle Hurst replaced McKiernan and retired the next two batters on a foul popup and a strikeout to earn his first save with the team. With a game time of 3:36, it went too long to make it into Saturday’s print editions.

The Sixers meanwhile, got 13 hits, including four from Nick Buss in the win over Bakersfield. Tony Delmonico homered and JonMichael Redding (2-2) allowed two runs in six innings.

The Sixers took three of four games in the series with the Quakes, their second series win at the Epicenter this season.

Here’s what we found out:

Charlie Haeger can pitch in A ball. Haeger, the Dodgers’ knuckleballer who has been with the Sixers on a rehab assignment (plantar fasciitis) working with pitching coach Charlie Hough, allowed five earned runs in 16 innings in three starts, while striking out 12. Will that translate back to the Dodgers? Who knows? A ball players have no experience or preparation for a knuckleballer. Hough said at the beginning of Haeger’s time that he’s on if he’s throwing his knuckler for strikes. He walked eight in his time with the Sixers.

Kyle Russell is red-hot and likes playing against the Quakes. In 11 games against the Quakes this season, Russell is batting .410 with six home runs, 10 runs and 18 RBIs. Overall, he has six home runs in his last six games.

The Quakes miss Dillon Baird. Baird is a power and RBI bat in the middle of the lineup and since he”s out with an injury after he was hit in the hand by a pitch. Jon Townsend seems to be a slight improvement on Baird defensively, but doesn’t provide the offensive punch.

The next week could be key for both teams. The Quakes are going on a seven-game North Division trip to Visalia and San Jose, never an easy trip. The Sixers are returning home, where they are 4-17 to face a Bakersfield team that before Monday had lost 10 in a row.

It was no surprise to me when the 66ers took three of four from the Quakes to open the 2010 season. The Sixers had more prospects, and looked to have the better team overall.

That’s certainly not the case now.

When the Quakes defeated the Sixers 6-2 at Arrowhead Credit Union Park on Friday, the Quakes improved to 20-16 (their fifth straight win), and the Sixers dropped to 10-26, and suffered their 10th loss in a row. The last time they lost more, it was June 2005 when they lost 11. The franchise record was 13, set in 1997.

What are the issues? Well, what aren’t? Starting pitching hasn’t lived up to expectations. But when it does, they don’t hit. Starters Nate Eovaldi, Aaron Miller and JonMichael Redding are a combined 0-6 in 19 starts, yet each have ERAs below 4.00. The bullpen has 10 blown saves.

The team is not showing the power many expected. They’ve hit only three home runs at home and 14 in the season. It doesn’t help that they have 3B Pedro Baez, and OFs Preston Mattingly, Andres Perez and Alfredo Silverio all on the disabled list. It’s hurt more than could be imagined when Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect Dee Gordon skipped the Sixers and went straight to Double-A. Gordon is a leadoff hitter, and that’s a spot that has been unsuccessful for the Sixers.

The Quakes, meanwhile, have a deeper lineup than expected, with some speed and more power (24 home runs) than expected. The bullpen has been pretty solid, making up for some inconstent starts. Overall, they seem to play with more fire than the Sixers, something that couldn’t be anticipated before the season.

After the Quakes lost for the second straight night to Lake Elsinore, by dropping a game that was winnable in the late innings, they may have gotten some other bad news: an injury to lteam-eading home run hitter Dillon Baird.

With the Quakes trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth with two on and two out, Baird, who homered earlier in the game, was due up. Instead, it was the newest Quake, Adam Younger, who pinch-hit for him. Younger replaced Carlos Colmenares on the roster Saturday after Colmenares was sent to Triple-A Salt Lake after Friday’s game. Younger was coming from low Single-A Cedar Rapids (where he was batting below .200), so his first Cal League at-bat was with the game on the line. Lake Elsinore’s Brad Brach predictably struck out Younger to earn his league-leading 11th save and third in the last four days.

After the game, manager Keith Johnson confirmed that Baird did come out of the game due to injury. Baird was hit in the hand by a pitch in the eighth inning, but remained in the game.

“The next inning on defense, he had some trouble throwing,” Johnson said. “So we took him out just to make sure.”

Johnson said it was “unlikely” that Baird, a third baseman, would be in the lineup for Sunday’s 2:05 p.m. game. He said there are no plans for x-rays, but “we’ll see how he is tomorrow.”

If Baird is out for any extensive length of time, that’s a big bat to be missing out of the middle of the Quakes’ lineup.