Cats Avoid Being No-Hit but Drop Finale to Bees 3-0
SALT LAKE CITY – Sunday’s series finale was a tough way for the Sacramento River Cats to go into the All-Star break, as the Salt Lake Bees held the Sacramento bats to a single hit and three base runners total as they split the series with a 3-0 victory. The
SALT LAKE CITY – Sunday’s series finale was a tough way for the Sacramento River Cats to go into the All-Star break, as the Salt Lake Bees held the Sacramento bats to a single hit and three base runners total as they split the series with a 3-0 victory.
The pitching staff for the Bees (43-43) had combined on a perfect game through six innings, but finally lost the chance at history when Jack Larsen produced the first hit for the River Cats (40-46) with one out in the seventh. However, he was immediately erased on a double play ball by David Villar.
Even with the lone hit, Sacramento had the chance at potentially tying the contest during their final at-bats in the ninth. Ford Proctor and Colton Welker each drew a walk to begin the inning to help the River Cats put the pressure on, but the newly entered Jhonathan Diaz was able to get a pair of outs on one pitch as pinch hitter Armando Alvarez hit into a twin-killing. The game came to a close soon after with a punchout for Diaz against Tyler Fitzgerald.
Salt Lake spent nearly the entire game with the lead, jumping in front during the home half of the first. A leadoff single from Michael Stefanic was the first of three hits in the inning, while the latter two were RBI singles from Daniel Murphy and Jack Lopez.
They added an insurance tally in the bottom of the seventh, as a leadoff walk Chris Okey also resulted in a run, crossing the plate on a one-out RBI single up the middle from Trey Cabbage.
Thanks to Larsen’s knock into center with one out during his Sacramento debut, the River Cats were able to avoid being no-hit for the first time since Season O’Sullivan was able to do it in Sacramento in a 2-0 win on July 28, 2009, also by today’s opponent the Salt Lake Bees. The only known time that the River Cats have been on the short end of a perfect game (since 2005) was when the trio of Ryan Meaux, Aquilino Lopez, and Cla Meredith combined to throw a seven-inning perfect game during a 5-0 win by the Portland Beavers in Sacramento on June 8, 2006.
Because Jonathan Holder did not go long enough to qualify for the win despite striking out four in 3.0 innings, Cam Vieaux (4-3) took credit for the win after he fanned six in 3.0 innings. In his return to Sacramento for the first time since making his MLB debut, Keaton Winn (0-4) was charged with the loss after allowing two runs on four hits in 4.0 innings of work.
Sacramento will have a few days off due to the All-Star break, as the River Cats will return to action on Friday, July 14 when they play host to the Oklahoma City Dodgers with first pitch tossed at 6:45 p.m.