Grand Slam Lifts River Cats Over Bees in Offensive Slugfest

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - After holding Sacramento to one run on back-to-back nights the River Cat bats woke up with 11 runs to overcome an early 3-0 Bees lead thanks to a late grand slam to even up the series with Salt Lake at 2-2.

Sacramento River Cats 11, Salt Lake Bees 8

WP: Carson Ragsdale (2 - 2)

LP: Brett Kerry (1 - 2)

Game Summary

Salt Lake jumped out to a 3–0 lead early, sparked by Gustavo Campero’s leadoff single followed by Korey Holland’s first Triple-A hit that drove in Campero to make it 1-0.

The Bees added to their lead in the second as Mitchell Daly who was making his Salt Lake debut scored Yolmer Sanchez with a sacrifice fly to center before a balk by River Cats pitcher Kyle Harrison brought in Zach Humphreys for the third Bees run.

Sacramento chipped away with five underanswered runs, tying the game in the fourth with RBI hits from Marco Luciano, David Villar, and Max Stassi. The Cats surged ahead in the fifth on a two-run double by Sergio Alcántara, then extended the lead with a two-run double from Grant McCray in the sixth.

The Bees briefly pulled within one in the seventh, when Mitchell Daly's two-run double made it 7–6. However, Sacramento put the game out of reach in the bottom half of the inning as Osleivis Basabe launched a go-ahead grand slam to cap a four-run frame as the River Cats scored all 11 runs from the fourth inning to the seventh inning.

Salt Lake made a push in the ninth with back-to-back RBI hits by Sánchez and Humphreys, but Justin Garza closed the door for the River Cats securing the 11-8 win.

Game Notes

• The Sacramento River Cats evened the series with a high-scoring win, dropping the Salt Lake Bees to 9-10 on the season. The loss puts Salt Lake at 1-6 when allowing 10 or more runs.
• Despite the defeat, the Bees’ offense showed up with double-digit hits for the 11th time this year as four players recorded multi-hit games
• Mitchell Daly, in his Triple-A debut, went 2-for-4 with a team-leading three RBI—his first career game with three driven in.
• Zach Humphreys picked up his first multi-hit game of the season, going 2-for-4 with a double—his third in four games—while scoring his first two runs of the year and knocking in another run for the second game in a row.
• Chad Stevens extended his hitting streak to six games with a 2-hit night. Since April 11, he's batting .391 (9-for-23) with two doubles, three RBI, and a 1.026 OPS.
• Yolmer Sanchez delivered his second two-hit game in three nights, including his fifth double of the season. He scored a season-high three runs and recorded his first RBI since April 6.
• Korey Holland joined Daly in the RBI column, going 1-for-4 and notching his first Triple-A hit and first multiple-RBI game at the level.
• On the mound, Brett Kerry started strong with three scoreless innings, but Sacramento broke through with three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth. Kerry finished five innings, allowing eight hits and three strikeouts, taking the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year.

Up Next

Salt Lake and Sacramento square off on Saturday night for game five of a tied up series at two games apiece with Shaun Anderson on the mound for Salt Lake while left-hander Carson Whisenhunt goes for Sacramento at 7:37 p.m. MDT at Sutter Health Park.