Alcántara, Bishop shine offensively as River Cats strike out 13

Salt Lake City, Utah — The Sacramento River Cats (25-33) downed the Salt Lake Bees (29-29) for the second straight game behind 13 strikeouts and a three-run home run by designated hitter Arismendy Alcántara.

The River Cats stormed out to an early 2-0 lead in the first when center fielder Braden Bishop, who was making his first start in the three-hole, tripled home left fielder Mike Tauchman, and scored on third baseman Jason Krizan’s double.

After Salt Lake cut the lead in half in the fourth, Tauchman and Bishop extended the lead with another two-run inning in the fifth. Tauchman plated catcher Ronnie Freeman with a sacrifice-fly, and Bishop made it 4-1 with a single to score right fielder Mauricio Dubón.

Alcántara broke things open with his sixth inning three-run shot. The big fly was the switch-hitter’s fourth of the series, six against the Bees this season, and tied him back up with Joe McCarthy for the team lead.

Sacramento was able to build a comfortable lead thanks to a dominant performance from reliever Norwith Gudino (1-0). Gudino was superb in just his second Triple-A game, striking out four and allowing two hits in 3.0 innings en route to his first win.

Reliever Jay Jackson slammed the door with a two strikeout, 1-2-3 ninth inning. The 33-year-old has now thrown 11.0 shutout innings in 2021 with 18 strikeouts and a 0.36 WHIP.

Right-hander Akeel Morris (0-0, 11.25) makes his second start for Sacramento since his promotion from Double-A Richmond. He’ll try to complete the comeback and even the series on Tuesday, taking on lefty Packy Naughton (2-1, 4.03) in the series finale at 5:35 p.m. (PT). Listen to all of the action live online at rivercats.com, and on the *MiLB First Pitch app. *

Additional Notes

• Despite only 8.2 professional innings in right field, the versatile Dubón made the play of the day with a sliding catch in foul territory, and the wherewithal to gun the tagging runner out at third base.
• In what was likely his last start before leaving for Team USA baseball Olympic training, left-handed starter Scott Kazmir struck out three and allowed one run on four hits and two walks in 3.0 innings.