Early Surge Too Much for Bees to Overcome on Friday Night

SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - Oklahoma City used 10 hits and five walks over the first three innings to take a commanding 11-0 advantage, pacing them to an 11-5 Friday night win over Salt Lake. The Bees made a charge late in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to avoid a franchise-tying 11th straight loss and fifth consecutive at home.

Oklahoma City 11, Salt Lake 5

WP: Cole Irvin (10-6)

LP: Joel Hurtado (0-1)

Key Performers

Gustavo Campero: 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, R, K

Jeimer Candelario: 2-4, R, K

Raudi Rodriguez: 1-4, RBI, K

Alex Faedo: 3.0 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 3 K

Game Summary

Recently called-up Joel Hurtado toed the rubber for the Bees Friday, making his second career Triple-A start. After getting the first out on his opening pitch, Oklahoma City tagged the Dominican for three runs on three hits to go out in front 3-0.

The Comets did more damage off Hurtado one inning later, culminating in a three-run big fly to left by Ryan Ward to extend the visitors’ margin to 7-0.

Oklahoma City posted another crooked number in the third, scoring four in the frame. Alek Thomas punctuated the inning with a bases-clearing double to right that made it an 11-0 score after three complete innings.

Meanwhile, the Bees couldn’t solve southpaw starter Cole Irvin for the first four innings, managing just two hits and two walks. However, with two outs in the fifth, Christian Moore singled to bring up a hot-hitting Gustavo Campero. The designated hitter unloaded on a 0-1 cutter to put Salt Lake on the board and cut the deficit to 11-2.

The trio of bullpen arms, Alex Faedo, Rob Kaminsky, and Sammy Peralta, kept Oklahoma City quiet over the final six innings of the contest, hoping to give their offense a shot to come alive.

Salt Lake put together a big inning in the ninth, getting consecutive RBI singles from pinch hitter Niko Kavadas and Campero to slim the margin to 11-4. Two walks later, Raudi Rodriguez picked up his first career Triple-A RBI on a free pass with the bases chucked to get the score to 11-5. The rally stopped there as Nelson Rada struck out, saddling the Bees their 11th straight defeat.

Game Notes

• Salt Lake dropped its 11th straight game on Friday matching a franchise record that was set May 4-16, 2014 and August 23-September 3, 2021. During its 11-game skid the Bees have been unable to come up with no more than three hits with runners in scoring position while going 2-for-6 in tonight’s game.

• Starting on May 12 against El Paso, Salt Lake went 4-0-3 in series play through June 28. Since the series loss to Las Vegas June 30 - July 5, Salt Lake has gone 1-5 in series play with the lone win coming in a three-game set vs. Reno. From May 12-June 28 Salt Lake posted a record of 26-16 but have gone 7-24 since.

• After allowing 11 runs in the first three frames, Salt Lake pitching shut out the Comets after the third inning. It marked the first time the Bees have shutout an opponent from the fourth inning on since July 11 at Sacramento and the first time doing it in the final six innings of play since July 4 vs. Las Vegas.

• The Bees lost their third straight Friday game, a day they have been excellent on this season. They are now 13-7 on the day of the week, dropping to 7-4 at home. Additionally, tonight’s defeat put Salt Lake at 30-31 at home, the first time they have held a below .500 record at South Jordan since May 2 when the record was 8-9.

• Christian Moore walked in his sixth straight game, leading off the Bees’ first turn at bat with a free pass. The infielder has reached in six consecutive contests, all via base-on-balls. He singled off southpaw starter Cole Irvin in the fifth, his 30th hit off a left-handed pitcher this season and is the 13th PCL player to eclipse that mark.

• Gustavo Campero put the Bees on the board with a two-run shot to left. The designated hitter has seven homers in his first 14 games with Salt Lake this season and has 13 on the year. His seven longballs is his most with a single team since launching 14 in 93 games with Double-A Rocket City in 2024. Campero has scored 11 times in his 13 games with the Bees and has six straight games with at least one RBI. No PCL hitter has more homers (7) or a higher slugging percentage (.818) than Campero since the Colombian debuted with Salt Lake on July 21. Campero secured his eighth multi-hit effort at Triple-A and fourth in the month of August. The three RBI ties his Triple-A career high (July 23 vs. Omaha).

• Making his second Triple-A start and first since September 20, 2025, Joel Hurtado only recorded four outs against the Comets. The Dominican surrendered seven runs, all earned, walked three and struck out one. It is the most runs Hurtado has given up since yielding seven runs with Double-A Rocket City on May 20, 2025 at Chattanooga (5.0 IP).

• Nelson Rada has hits in back-to-back contests, beating out a chopper to the right side tonight. Since ending a 0-for-15 skid, the outfielder is batting 4-for-10 (.400). Rada has a hit in four straight games with postgame firework nights, moving his average to .318 in five total firework games this season.

• A third-inning single extended Kyren Paris’ on-base streak to 25 games, one shy of tying the longest active streak in the PCL. He is batting .349 (30-for-86) with seven home runs, eight doubles, 23 RBI and has an OPS of 1.150 over that stretch while hitting safely in five consecutive games.

• Jeimer Candelario singled twice to mark his first multi-hit effort since July 25 vs. Omaha. He has reached base safely in back-to-back games and scored for the second time in his last four games.

• Alex Faedo was spectacular in relief, spinning three scoreless innings for the first time since September 13, 2023 with Detroit. He yielded a lone hit, walked one and struck out three in his outing tonight, just as he did three years ago with the Tigers.

• Pablo Reyes moved his on-base streak to four games with a single up the middle and has hits in two of his most recent three games.

• Raudi Rodriguez beat out an infield single to extend his Triple-A career opening streak to four games. He currently holds a five-game streak (final game at Rocket City), while also managing an eight-game on-base streak. Rodriguez picked up his first career RBI at the level on a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning.

• Rob Kaminsky has not allowed an earned run over his last 2.2 innings of work, firing two shutout frames tonight. The lefty walked one and struck out one over his appearance tonight, lowering his August ERA to 1.93.

• Sammy Peralta tossed a scoreless ninth inning, his first shutout appearance since his August 2 start in Sugar Land. Peralta has seven scoreless outings with the Bees across 14 total appearances with the club this season.

• Niko Kavadas stepped in the game in the ninth and notched a pinch-hit single. Kavadas has hit safely in six consecutive games and is batting .455 with seven RBI over that span. Kavadas’ pinch hit single marked the fourth pinch hit knock of the season for Salt Lake who have gone 4-for-18 (.222) in pinch hit situations. The club's 18 pinch hit at-bats are the second most in the PCL behind Reno (23).

Up Next

Salt Lake and Oklahoma City will battle among wands and broomsticks on Saturday’s Harry Potter Night. Hogwarts arrives inside The Ballpark at 6:35 p.m. MDT with a drone show to follow the ballgame.