Five-Run Eighth Propels Salt Lake To Victory Over Round Rock
The Salt Lake Bees took care of business in the second game of their series against the Round Rock Express, using a late offensive outburst to power their way to victory by a final of 12-5. In similar fashion to their game on Tuesday evening, the Bees entered the eighth
The Salt Lake Bees took care of business in the second game of their series against the Round Rock Express, using a late offensive outburst to power their way to victory by a final of 12-5.
In similar fashion to their game on Tuesday evening, the Bees entered the eighth inning against Round Rock on Wednesday with the score level at five runs apiece. Unlike what happened the night before, however, it was Salt Lake who managed to mount a late rally, pushing five runs across the plate in the frame to put things out of reach. First to come through in the clutch was Hunter Dozier, who came to bat with runners on first and second with one out and bounced a ball right up the middle against Round Rock pitcher Jimmy Robbins to give the team the lead. A walk one batter later loaded up the bases, which set the stage for Jack L贸pez to break things open with the Bees first grand slam of the season, a shot that cleared the wall in left field and put Salt Lake up by five with just six outs to go.
Jack L贸pez breaks things open in GRAND fashion 馃挭 pic.twitter.com/8NDad9sQvv
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 25, 2024
The Bees offense was humming even before their late heroics, blasting three home runs in the first four innings to take control of the game from the outset. The first of these came in the game鈥檚 opening frame off the bat of Jason Martin, with the outfielder crushing a hanging changeup from the rehabbing Max Scherzer for his second first-inning homer in as many days since making his season debut on Tuesday. Cole Tucker followed Martin鈥檚 lead one inning later by depositing a high-and-away fastball from Scherzer to the opposite field for his first dinger of the year, and Chad Wallach completed the trifecta with a two-run blast in the fourth off of reliever Gerson Garabito. D鈥橲hawn Knowles also got in on the fun with an RBI double of his own off of Scherzer, and L贸pez drove in a pair in the ninth to increase his tally on the day to a season-high six.
Second day on the team, second home run for Jason Martin! pic.twitter.com/BGmY5Bad0a
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 25, 2024
On the other side of things, Davis Daniel got the ball for Salt Lake and grinded his way through 4.1 innings to keep the team in the lead through the majority of the night. The righty allowed seven hits and walked three, but he managed to limit the damage to just three runs and matched his season high in strikeouts with seven. Behind him, the duo of Amir Garrett and Jimmy Herget managed to steer things to the finish line after the bats broke things open, combining for two innings of one-hit, no-run ball.
The Bees will now try to keep their momentum rolling into the third game of the series against the Express on Thursday, with the first pitch in that one scheduled for 6:05 p.m.