Bees Swarm Cats Leading to Third Straight Defeat

SALT LAKE CITY – For a third straight game the Sacramento River Cats allowed double-digit runs to the Salt Lake Bees, with Salt Lake scoring all of their runs in just three innings as they captured a 14-8 win over Sacramento on Thursday.

It was the River Cats (21-14) that scored the first runs of the game, dropping a three-spot in the away half of the second. Striking first was newest River Cat Drew Cavanaugh, who singled into left center, followed by a two-RBI knock by Brett Wisely later in the frame with two outs.

The Bees (13-21) doubled that with their swings in the third, pouring on six runs in the inning which included the third three-run homer of the series by Hunter Dozier. He went on to finish with four RBI on the day, giving him 14 in three games this series after entering the series with 15 on the season.

An Ismael Munguia double and Casey Schmitt single plated two for Sacramento in the fourth, but they couldn’t keep up with the three that were scored by Salt Lake in the bottom of the inning on a three-run blast by Charles Leblanc. That gives Leblanc a home run in all three games of this series, his first time hitting a homer in three straight contests in the same season. Additionally, he is now 7-for-14 (.500) on the series.

Sacramento stole those three runs right back in the top of the fifth, pulling within a run to 8-7. The first run of the frame scored on a Cavanaugh RBI groundout, while Luis Matos delivered a clutch two-RBI knock on a liner into right field.

However, five runs for Salt Lake in the bottom of the sixth would be the final of the afternoon. They used four hits and a pair of walks to do the damage, with three of the hits going for doubles from Dozier, Jason Martin, and Chad Wallach.

Today’s loss marks four in a row for Sacramento, the second time this season after also doing so from April 5-9 when they dropped three on the road at Reno before falling in the series opener against El Paso. Sacramento also allowed double-digit runs for the third consecutive game, the first time they have done so since they allowed double-digits in four straight games last season from Aug. 11-15, 2023. In just this series alone they have allowed 40 runs over three games, coming on the heels of allowing a combined 34 runs over their previous 10 games in a stretch that included two shutout wins.

Charged with the loss was Carson Whisenhunt (0-3), who yielded six runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 2.1 innings. This was the first time in the past four games that he allowed a run, as his scoreless streak had reached 14.2 combined innings dating back to his start on April 23 against Las Vegas.

Pitching in his second game of the series was Donovan Walton, who has yet to allow an earned run this season in four appearances. He has allowed only six hits in 6.0 innings of work, 2.0 of which have come this series after also appearing in the series opener on Tuesday.

Four River Cats tallied multi-hit games, which included Munguia who has three straight two-hit efforts and is 6-for-12 (.500) over that span. Today he scored twice and drove in one while tallying a double and a walk. Schmitt also finished with a pair of knocks, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a double while Marco Luciano was 2-for-5 with a run scored.

Drew Cavanaugh made his Triple-A debut and recorded an RBI single in his first at-bats. He went on to score three runs, which is tied for the most in a game by a River Cat this season.

The River Cats will need a victory tomorrow if they want to avoid their first series loss of the season, and the two teams will take the field for game four of this series at Smith’s Ballpark at 5:35 p.m. (PT).