Daly, Lugo Go Deep, Bees Can’t Overcome Early Deficit to Comets

SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - The Salt Lake Bees suffered its second straight defeat on Wednesday night in a 6-3 affair to Oklahoma City as Matthew Lugo went yard for the second night in a row while early offense from the Comets proved to be the deciding factor.

Oklahoma City Comets 6, Salt Lake Bees 3

WP: Tony Gonsolin (1 - 1)

LP: Caden Dana (2 - 2)

SV: Matt Sauer (1)

Game Summary

For the second consecutive night Oklahoma City struck right away in the top of the first as Alex Freeland led off with a double followed by an RBI single by Michael Chavis to put OKC on the board 1-0.

Bees starting pitcher Caden Dana held firm through the second and third frame, but the Comets broke it open in the fourth.

After a leadoff homer from Ryan Ward, James Outman provided an immediate double to center before coming around to score on a two-run single by Freeland to take a 4-0 lead.

Salt Lake's offense managed just two hits through the first four innings before they finally got on the board in the fifth thanks to Mitchell Daly, who launched a solo shot to right to cut the deficit to 6–1.

In the sixth, Matthew Lugo followed suit with a towering homer to left providing a long ball for the second time this series.

The Bees added their final run in the eighth after Sebastián Rivero knocked in Niko Kavadas for their third run of the game which was all Salt Lake could muster up as Matt Sauer closed things down with a three-inning save to secure the 6-3 victory.

Game Notes

• Salt Lake dropped its second straight game to Oklahoma City to open the series and has now lost five of its last six, falling to 10-13 on the season. The Bees scored three runs for the second night in a row.
• Matthew Lugo collected two hits, including a home run for the second consecutive night. Lugo has hit safely in four straight games and reached base in 14 straight. Over his last four games, he's batting 6-for-19 (.315) with two homers, two doubles, three RBIs, and two runs scored.
• Mitchell Daly hit his first Triple-A home run and the third of his Minor League career. He finished 1-for-3 with a run scored for the second night in a row and now has five RBIs since joining the Bees on April 18 in Sacramento.
• Yolmer Sánchez extended his consistent stretch, going 1-for-4 and reaching safely in seven of his last eight games.
• Caden Dana, the Bees’ starter, was knocked out early after just 3.2 innings—his shortest outing of the year—while allowing a season-high six hits along with four runs, three earned. Despite the rough outing, Dana recorded six strikeouts, giving him three consecutive starts with six or more punchouts.
• Sebastian Rivero went 1-for-3 with his seventh RBI of the year. He has hit safely in eight of his nine games played and leads all Bees players in RBIs among those with fewer than 10 games.
• For the sixth time in seven games, the Bees' bullpen held opponents to two runs or fewer. Touki Toussaint, Luke Murphy, and Kenyan Yovan combined for 5.1 innings of solid relief. Murphy stood out with 2.2 innings of one-hit ball and a season-best five strikeouts—his most in a single game since August 22, 2023, with Double-A Rocket City.
• Salt Lake’s 6-3 loss drops the team to 0-9 when scoring three or fewer runs and 3-13 when giving up four or more.

Up Next

Salt Lake will look to find its first win of the series in game three with Dakota Hudson taking the mound for Salt Lake to face Oklahoma City right-hander Justin Jarvis at 6:35 p.m. MDT at the Ballpark at America First Square.