Salazar’s Three-Run Blast Sinks Bees in Series Opener

SUGAR LAND, Texas - The Salt Lake Bees dropped a 4-3 contest to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys in the series opener as Salt Lake scored all three of its runs in the first without recording a hit while a three run homer by César Salazar in the sixth made the difference for Sugar Land to secure the victory on Tuesday night.

Sugar Land Space Cowboys 4, Salt Lake Bees 3

WP: John Rooney (1 - 0)

LP: Jack Dashwood (2 - 4)

SV: Tayler Scott (3)

Game Summary

Salt Lake kicked off the game by sending all nine to the plate, scoring three runs without getting a hit. The Bees took five walks and one hit-by-pitch from Space Cowboys starter Rhett Kouba, who threw 25 pitches with only six strikes, including nine straight balls and back-to-back walks to Carter Kieboom and Denzer Guzman. All three runs the Bees scored came on bases-loaded walks, with Chad Wallach drawing a nine-pitch walk to bring in the third and final run of the inning.

Sugar Land answered quickly in the lower half with Brice Matthews launching a leadoff home run on a 1-1 pitch off Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Month for July Sammy Peralta to make it a 3-1 game.

Sammy Peralta kept the Space Cowboys in check over his next four innings, with Sugar Land’s best chance to cut the deficit coming in the fourth. A two-out single to center sent Collin Price charging toward the plate, but Nelson Rada fired a strike to cut him down and preserve the run from scoring. Peralta completed five innings of work, allowing just one run on the first-inning homer by Matthews.

Salt Lake had a chance to extend its lead in the sixth inning as Cavan Biggio struck out but reached first on a wild pitch from John Rooney, only to be picked off shortly after. Later, Yolmer Sánchez was hit by a pitch with two outs but was also caught off base when Rooney picked him off at first to end the inning.

The Bees turned to Jack Dashwood out of the bullpen to replace Peralta in the sixth where he got Logan Davidson to strike out looking for the first out before Jon Singleton singled to left. Zack Short followed with a walk to put two aboard, setting the stage for César Salazar who flipped the script with a three-run homer to right that gave Sugar Land its first lead of the night at 4-3.

Salt Lake went down in order in the seventh and eighth innings, and while the first two batters were retired in the ninth, Yolmer Sánchez extended the inning with a single to left. However, Nelson Rada grounded out to end the game, sealing a one-run loss as Salt Lake was held scoreless over the final eight innings.

Game Notes

• With the loss, Salt Lake’s record falls to 47-67 on the season. The team dropped its second consecutive series opener and now sits at 7-13 in one-run games this year.
• The Bees dropped their ninth straight game to Sugar Land in 2025, falling to 1-9 in the season series. Salt Lake has now been held to three runs or fewer in four consecutive games against the Space Cowboys, and the team is 4-41 overall this season when scoring three or less.
• Salt Lake scored all three of its runs without registering a hit in the first inning. The Bees have taken the lead first in five of their last seven games, with 21 of their 45 runs (46.6%) during that stretch coming in the first three innings while having scored at least one run in the first three innings in nine consecutive games.
• Sammy Peralta made his fifth start of the year, matching a professional career high with five innings pitched, a mark he set less than a month ago on July 24 against Albuquerque. Peralta allowed one run on four hits while striking out three, stranding a runner in each of the first four innings before closing his outing with a perfect fifth inning.
• Nelson Rada recorded his third multi-hit game in eight contests with the Bees, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Since debuting on August 3, Rada has hit safely in seven of eight games and scored in six, posting a .355 batting average with six RBIs and eight runs scored.
• Chad Stevens went 1-for-3 with an RBI, marking his sixth hit in seven games and bringing his season total to 59 RBIs—just one shy of tying his professional career high set in both 2022 (A+) and 2023 (AA). Stevens also recorded his 102nd hit of the season Tuesday, making him one of only four players in the Pacific Coast League with 100-plus hits and 17 or more home runs this year.
• Yolmer Sánchez went 1-for-2 with a walk, providing the Bees fourth and final hit of the night. Sánchez has reached base in 19 of his last 20 games and has recorded hits in eight of his last 10. He’s off to a strong August, batting .321 with six RBIs, five runs scored, two doubles, and eight walks in nine games.

Up Next

Salt Lake will look to even the series on Wednesday night with Dakota Hudson (6-6, 7.52) and Ethan Pecko (0-1, 19.29) taking the mound at Constellation Field at 6:05 p.m. MST.