Sacramento Shut Out by Salt Lake on Thursday

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Five hits were all the Sacramento River Cats could muster in game three of their series with the Salt Lake Bees on Thursday, none of which could produce a run as Salt Lake snagged a 6-0 victory over Sacramento at Sutter Health Park.

River Cats (20-22) starter Carson Seymour (1-5) danced around danger through the first three innings, as the Bees (16-25) put three runners aboard in the second and two aboard in the third but failed to capitalize. It took until the fourth for them to break through, doing so with a two-out RBI single from Korey Holland when he sent a ball into right center.

While that chased Seymour from the game, primarily due to pitch count as he tossed 87 pitches, Salt Lake continued the offense in the fifth against Sean Hjelle with a pair of doubles from J.D. Davis and Chuckie Robinson, the latter of which scored Davis and Ryan Noda who had been hit with a pitch.

In the eighth the Bees doubled the lead with one swing of the bat, as Niko Kavadas drove in a trio of runs and put the game on ice with his seventh homer of the year. There was question of whether the ball would stay fair drifting down the left field line, but the ball ultimately hit the foul pole for the roundtripper.

Sacramento had a runner in scoring position in the first when Grant McCray singled and stole second base, even advancing to third on a wild pitch. However, a strikeout brought an end to the frame. Tyler Fitzgerald singled with one out in the sixth and Drew Cavanaugh had a one-out single in the ninth, but the River Cats could not find the timely hit in their third shutout loss of the year.

The only River Cat to toss a scoreless outing in the contest was left-hander Raymond Burgos, who tossed a perfect sixth by striking out the side on 16 pitches.

McCray reached base safely a total of three times in four trips, drawing a pair of walks while going 1-for-2. Sergio Alcántara and Osleivis Basabe were each 1-for-4 with a double, Sacramento’s only two extra-base hits in the game.

Despite the loss the River Cats still lead the series two games to one, with game four of the series on Friday at 6:45 p.m. (PT) from Sutter Health Park.