Sacramento’s Six-Run Lead Slips Against Bees

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A six-run lead could not hold up for the Sacramento River Cats on Tuesday, as Sacramento saw the Salt Lake Bees tally seven unanswered runs with six scored in the final three frames to earn a comeback 7-6 victory in the series opener.

The River Cats (65-79) carried the lead into the middle innings after first pulling in front during the second, doing so behind the strength of a two-run homer from David Villar. His 16th blast of the season also scored Trenton Brooks, who had kicked off the inning with a single.

To add to their lead, Sacramento showed off its plate discipline by working six consecutive walks with no outs against the Bees’ (67-77) pitching staff, the final three of which each forced in a run resulting in an RBI each for new River Cat Yoshi Tsutsugo, Jakson Reetz and Brett Wisely.

Salt Lake responded with a run in the fourth thanks to a solo homer from Livan Soto, and then the Bees caught a bit of a break as a pop-up storm in the area caused a pause to the contest after the top of the fifth due to rain. After what became a 47-minute delay, both teams returned to the field to finish the game.

It was from that point when momentum began to swing the way of the Bees. When it seemed as if the game was nearing its conclusion, Salt Lake tallied a trio of runs in the home half of the eighth, which was highlighted by a two-RBI knock from Orlando Martinez.

During the ninth is when the comeback became complete as the Bees were facing off against Sacramento closer Erik Miller, who while attempting to collect a four-out save issued a walk to his first hitter of the ninth before surrendering a home run to center field on the first pitch. That homer tied the ballgame at 6-6 and forced extra innings.

Though Sacramento had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the 10th thanks to the free runner, they unfortunately could not drive them home as they remained stranded on base. Up to the dish stepped the Bees, who took just one batter into the inning to score their free runner thanks to a Chris Okey single.

Miller was charged with his third blown save of the campaign, but it was Juan Sanchez (2-3) that ended up taking the loss as he one unearned run on one hit in less than an inning. Kolton Ingram (2-3) wound up as the winning pitcher of record, working a scoreless 10th while walking two and striking out two.

The bottom half of the lineup did most of the damage for Sacramento, including a 2-for-3 effort with a pair of runs scored by Villar in addition to his home run and pair of RBI. Brooks also scored a pair of runs while going 1-for-4, and Tsutsugo was 1-for-4 in his Sacramento debut while scoring once.

Sacramento will look to rebound as the series continues tomorrow at 5:35 p.m. with game two from Smith’s Ballpark.