Albuquerque Outslugs Salt Lake on Friday Night

Isotopes 9 (10-22), Bees 7 (13-18) – Smith’s Ballpark | Salt Lake City, UT

AT THE DISH: José Briceño dealt some damage to his former team Friday as he hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning after previously driving in a run via sacrifice fly … Greg Bird also went deep, his sixth home run of the season ... Rio Ruiz remained hot with a 3-for-4 night … Wynton Bernard chipped in three hits of his own in his second game back in the lineup after being out of action from June 1-8 … Sam Hilliard and Jose Gomez each had an RBI hit as Albuquerque built a 5-0 lead after two innings … All Albuquerque starters had at least one base hit in the game.

TOEING THE RUBBER: Topes starter Dereck Rodríguez earned the win despite giving up six hits and five earned runs in five innings (four of the runs scored on a pair of two-run homers) … Jesus Tinoco and Chad Smith each worked a scoreless frame … Joe Harvey finally surrendered a run after throwing 12.0 consecutive scoreless innings to begin the season … Justin Lawrence gave up a run in the ninth but induced the dangerous Matt Thaiss to fly out to end the ballgame … It was Lawrence’s fourth save of the campaign.

TOPES TIDBITS: The Isotopes and their opponents (Las Vegas and Salt Lake) have combined for 25 home runs in the last four contests … Albuquerque won a game in which their opponent scored seven or more runs for the third time in 2021 … Ruiz is 5-for-7 with two doubles and a home run since moving into the leadoff spot of the lineup Thursday … The Topes have hit their most homers (12) in a four-game span since also hitting 12 over the first four games of a five-game set at Salt Lake from April 24-27, 2019.

ON DECK: With each team having won a game in this series, Albuquerque and Salt Lake pick up their six-game series Saturday evening at Smith’s Ballpark with a 6:35 PM MT first pitch. Brandon Gold (1-2, 6.31) is expected to start for the Topes and Jaime Barria (1-1, 3.68) will throw for Salt Lake. Barria was the Opening Night starter for the Bees at Isotopes Park in 2019.