Kavadas’ Three RBI Paces Bees to Wednesday Night Win

ALBUQUERQUE, NM. - The king of September, Niko Kavadas, continued to reign supreme in the month, collecting three RBI and his 15th home run of the year to power Salt Lake to a 7-2 win over the Isotopes on Wednesday. The Bees scored in the first five innings and rode a strong start from Joel Hurtado to win their second straight contest.

Salt Lake 7, Albuquerque 2

WP: Joel Hurtado (2-3)

LP: Jack Mahoney (0-2)

Key Performers

Niko Kavadas: 3-5, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI

Ben Gobbel: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K

Bryce Teodosio: 1-4, R, HR, RBI

Game Summary

For the second straight night, the Bees activated the scoreboard first. Nelson Rada doubled to begin Wednesday’s affair and with two outs, Niko Kavadas resumed his red-hot September managing a RBI single to make it 1-0 Salt Lake.

Salt Lake went back to the two-out well, using a Ben Gobbel RBI double in the second and a Sebastián Rivero run-scoring single in the third to increase the lead to 3-0. Meanwhile, starter Joel Hurtado was doing his thing, allowing just one hit and one walk in three scoreless frames.

Bryce Teodosio made it fourth straight innings with a run for the Bees, as he unloaded to left field with his eighth home run of the season and gave Salt Lake a 4-0 advantage. Albuquerque pieced together a scoring threat, plating their first run of the night on a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

In the fifth and a runner on, Kavadas blistered a fastball onto the berm in right field, turning his 15th longball of the year into a 6-1 score. On the mound, Hurtado protected that score, finishing his fifth and final inning of work.

After their first scoreless inning of the night, the Bees went back to work in the seventh. A string of three singles brought home the team’s seventh run, courtesy of Yolmer Sánchez’s base hit.

The Isotopes scratched across a run in the eighth on a hustle double and two groundouts to make it a 7-2 margin. Both sides worked around a single baserunner in each half of the ninth, as Jared Southard got Conner Capel to strike out swinging and finish the Wednesday night contest.

Game Notes

• Salt Lake allowed two runs on five hits from the Isotopes improving to 26-3 when allowing three runs or less this season. Additionally, the Bees moved to 16-5 when allowing fewer than five hits and have won eight of the nine road games this season in which this has occurred (only loss: July 7 at Sacramento).

• After four consecutive games without a homer, Salt Lake delivered two long balls on Wednesday night from Bryce Teodosio and Niko Kavadas. Teodosio’s was the team's 41st home run to lead off an inning this season, which ranks fifth in the PCL. The Bees are 28-12 overall and 10-4 on the road when hitting two or more home runs compared to being 37-67 and 20-36 away from home when hitting one or no home runs.

• The Bees captured their 65th win of the season, marking the fifth straight season reaching that milestone. One more victory over the final four games would surpass the 2025 season total, while two more wins would match the 2024 total of 67.

• Starter Joel Hurtado completed a five-inning start, yielding one run on two hits, walked four and struck out four. The Dominican stacked this outing on top of his best Triple-A outing from last week, allowing two runs in his last 11.2 innings of work (1.54 ERA). Hurtado struck out at least four in all three September starts (14 total K). After going his first seven AAA starts without a win, the righty has now won consecutive starts.

• Nelson Rada led off the game with a double, his 20th of the campaign. It marks consecutive games that he has doubled in the Bees’ opening at-bat (Sept. 13 vs. RR). Rada joins Jordyn Adams’ 2023 season as the only two Salt Lake hitters to hit 20 doubles and steal 40 bases in the same campaign (since 2005) and is the 17th PCL player in that same timespan to accomplish the feat. The outfielder scored his 93rd run of the season, sitting fourth-best in the PCL.

• Niko Kavadas collected his 25th, 26th and 27th RBI in September over the last two seasons and ranks third in that category among Triple-A players. The infielder deposited his 15th homer of the year onto the right field berm. That longball made him the 12th Bee to tally 20+ doubles, 15+ homers, 50+ walks and 50+ RBI in the same season and first since Chad Stevens did so last season. However, Kavadas is the only one to do it in less than 95 games and with fewer than 100 hits. The Notre Dame alum has a hit in six straight games and racked up his 3+ hit ledger since a four-hit night on September 10.

• Bryce Teodosio has hits in eight straight games against the Isotopes, leaving the yard with his eighth home run of the year. This is his second most homers hit in a single season, only trailing his 14-HR campaign in 2022 with Double-A Rocket City. Teodosio has five career homers against Albuquerque, four of which have come this season.

• Yolmer Sánchez reached base on a walk and stole his 20th base of the season. It is the first time in his professional career the utilityman has reached the 20-steals mark with one time in a single season (he had 26 in 2012 between High-A, AA, and AAA). Sánchez scored for the third game in a row and later singled to tally a hit in 10 of the 14 September games played. He made it a multi-hit night with another RBI single, pushing his season total up to 77 RBI, tied for ninth in the PCL in 2026.

• Ben Gobbel has consecutive games with an RBI double, driving home Sánchez in the second. Seven of the infielder’s 11 total doubles this season have come at Albuquerque, where he is batting .324. Gobbel finished with his 13th multi-hit effort and his first since September 2 at Sacramento.

• A single from Raudi Rodriguez started the third inning. It snapped an 0-for-8 skid from the outfielder and represented his first hit since September 11. Rodriguez scored his 25th Triple-A run and 10th in September, tied for fourth most in the PCL in the month.

• Sebastián Rivero extended his season-long hit streak to six games, tallying an RBI on his first hit of the night. It is his longest hitting streak since a seven-gamer between August 3-15, 2025 with Salt Lake. Rivero’s RBI was his first since September 1 at SAC. Another single recorded consecutive multi-hit efforts for Rivero, his first set of back-to-back multi-hit games since April 21-24 with the Bees.

• Pablo Reyes was plunked, moving his on-base streak to four games. However, the infielder would leave the game after the HBP, being replaced by Arol Vera.

• Logan Porter singled in the eighth, ensuring all nine Bees in the starting lineup reached base at least once. Eight of the nine starters managed a hit, with Pablo Reyes serving as the lone exception.

• Shaun Anderson retired all six Isotopes he faced, recording four strikeouts in that two inning effort. It marks back-to-back appearances of two shutout innings and continues his solid September (1.50 ERA). Today’s four strikeout performance marks the ninth time in Anderson’s career he has reached that number in a relief effort, holding an all-time high of five (three times, last: 8/23/24 with Jacksonville).

• Rob Kaminsky surrendered his first earned run in September over his one inning of work; it snapped a 6.1 scoreless innings streak. It is the first run allowed since August 30 and since the 18th of August, Kaminsky has a 1.54 ERA (2 ER/11.2 IP).

• Jared Southard finished the ballgame with a scoreless ninth and two strikeouts, a third shutout effort over his last four appearances. The Texan has not given up a run to the Isotopes this season, pitching 7.0 clean innings over five different appearances.

Up Next

Salt Lake puts their win streak on the line early Thursday, taking on Albuquerque at 11:05 a.m. MDT from RGCU Field at Isotopes Park.