Bees Fall Short in Wednesday Matinee Against Reno
The Salt Lake Bees came up short in Wednesday’s matinee against the Reno Aces, dropping their fifth game in a row in a back-and-forth affair by a final of 6-4. After a quiet first couple of innings, the two teams started throwing punches back and forth in the game’s middle
The Salt Lake Bees came up short in Wednesday’s matinee against the Reno Aces, dropping their fifth game in a row in a back-and-forth affair by a final of 6-4.
After a quiet first couple of innings, the two teams started throwing punches back and forth in the game’s middle innings. The Aces jumped on the board first in the top of the third thanks to a ground-rule double from Pavin Smith, but the Bees answered back in the bottom half of the frame with a double of their own off the bat of Hunter Dozier to drive home two. This lead would not hold for long, though, as Reno would level things up just one inning later on a solo home run by Andrés Chaparro.
The Bull-Dozier is taking a working lunch pic.twitter.com/QIKldXwVBX
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 17, 2024
Things slowed down for a little bit after this thanks to some solid work by both pitching staffs, but the Aces heated back up in a big way once the seventh inning rolled around. After putting runners on second and third with one out, they broke things open with two separate two-RBI doubles by Kyle Garlick and Ronaldo Hernández to regain the advantage, this time by four runs.
The Bees did not go quietly after falling behind, putting up two runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh on a perfectly executed double steal by Bryce Teodosio and Jordyn Adams and an RBI single by Willie Calhoun. The comeback effort came to an end right there, though, with the Reno relief duo of Ricky Karcher and Dakota Chalmers tossing 2.2 hitless innings to slam the door on Salt Lake.
The loss was a tough break for Bees starter Zac Kristofak, who performed admirably in what was just his second start of the year. The righty allowed just a pair of earned runs over a season-high five innings, surrendering six hits and no walks while striking out three. Veteran Bryan Shaw also looked good in his Salt Lake debut, tossing a scoreless seventh to keep the game within striking distance.
The Bees will look to bounce back in the third game of the series against Reno on Thursday, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.