Three-Run First Sends Sacramento to 5-0 Win

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A three-run first for the Sacramento River Cats put them well on the way to victory on Saturday night against the Salt Lake Bees, using the early momentum from the bats to cruise to a 5-0 shutout of Salt Lake in game five of the series.

The River Cats (11-9) started the game with four straight hits, the first of which was a roundtripper from Grant McCray on a 2-1 offering from Bees (9-11) starter and former River Cat Shaun Anderson (0-4) that immediately put Sacramento ahead, 1-0. Two straight singles kept the line moving, the first of which would come around to score on a Jake Lamb single into right center. Two batters late and Logan Porter chipped in a sacrifice fly, pushing home Marco Luciano for their third run of the frame.

Sacramento starter Carson Whisenhunt was in impressive form as he held the Bees without a hit until the start of the fourth inning when Matthew Lugo tallied a double to kick off the frame. Two immediate strikeouts helped ease the situation, and eventually he escaped danger with a flyout to end the frame.

Working efficiently, Whisenhunt found his way through the sixth inning without allowing a run and just the one hit, his second quality start of the season. The southpaw remains the only River Cat this season to post a quality start, as he also went six frames without a run in his second outing of the year at Las Vegas on April 5.

By the end of his six inning Whisenhunt struck out nine batters, matching his season-high while sitting one off of his Triple-A career high of 10 that he achieved twice in 2024. Known for his changeup, the East Carolina product recorded five of his strikeouts with the cambio, pushing his total to 16 on the season when he changes speed.

Whisenhunt was followed by Antonio Jimenez and Kai-Wei Teng, both of which did not allow a hit and faced their minimum number of batters. Teng worked the final six outs of the game, punching out four of the six batters he faced.

That helped the River Cats close with 15 strikeouts in the game, have struck out 13 or more batters in four consecutive games (62 total) for the first time since they did so in four straight games from June 13-16, 2023 at Sugar Land (56 total in that span). Additionally, after striking out a season-high 17 in the past two games, Sacramento has now sliced up 15 batters or more in three consecutive games.

Sacramento added two more insurance runs before the contest ended, scoring once in the fifth on Hunter Bishop’s second blast of the season. He turned on a full count pitch from Anderson, crushing a ball 107.1 mph off the bat to tie the hardest hit home run of the Sacramento season along with Marco Luciano.

The game’s final run crossed the plate in the eighth, as Logan Porter doubled to start the eighth and traded places two batters later with Brett Auerbach to bring the game to its 5-0 final.

This was the third shutout win of the season for Sacramento, their first since they shutout Las Vegas 2-0 on April 5.

Auerbach closed the night with a three-hit performance by going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, his second time this season tallying a pair of two-baggers in a game. The trio of Alcántara, Luciano and Porter ended with a pair of hits each, and five different bats drove in a run.

Now with at minimum a split of this six-game set, the River Cats will go for the outright win of the series when the two teams lineup on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. from Sutter Health Park.