Salt Lake Heads To Sin City For Six-Game Series
After wrapping up their first homestand of the year on Sunday afternoon, the Salt Lake Bees travel south to embark on their second road trip of the young season. The team heads to Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Aviators in a six-game series that will run from
After wrapping up their first homestand of the year on Sunday afternoon, the Salt Lake Bees travel south to embark on their second road trip of the young season. The team heads to Sin City to take on the Las Vegas Aviators in a six-game series that will run from Tuesday, April 9 to Sunday, April 14.
The Bees hit the road after winning two of six games at Smith’s Ballpark against the Tacoma Rainiers, taking the series opener and finale while dropping the four games in the middle. They head into play on Tuesday with an overall record of 3-6, a half game better than the Aviators’ mark of 2-6.
The big story of the early goings for the Bees has been the performance of their starting rotation, which has excelled through their first two turns of the year. The unit pitched to a 3.60 ERA during the series against Tacoma and has posted a 3.02 ERA with 47 strikeouts overall, both of which rank at the top of the Pacific Coast League entering play on Tuesday. This strong start has been led by Andrew Wantz, who was named PCL Pitcher of the Week yesterday after allowing just one earned run and striking out a career-high 11 batters in his six innings of work on Thursday, and Kenny Rosenberg, who began his year by tossing 13 innings and surrendering just two runs in his two starts during the homestand. Wantz is scheduled to get the ball to start the series against the Aviators on Tuesday and to finish it on Sunday, while Rosenberg looks set to take the mound again on Saturday.
Andrew Wantz was named PCL Pitcher of the Week after his dominating 11 strikeout performance on Thursday against Tacoma! pic.twitter.com/93LohjYaWe
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 8, 2024
On the other side of the ball, Salt Lake will try to get its bats heated up after sputtering out of the gates to the tune of just 24 runs scored in its nine games played so far. Not all has been bad on offense for the Bees, however, with the performance of Bryce Teodosio standing out as a huge bright spot despite the collective slow start. In his first handful of games played at the Triple-A level, Teodosio has gone 12-31 at the plate with four triples, which is tied for the most in the PCL with Albuquerque’s Sean Bouchard. He also ranks third in the league in slugging percentage with a mark of .750, sixth in OPS at 1.183, and tied for fifth in stolen bases with four. Veteran Ehire Adrianza has also hit very well since joining the team, going 7-15 with a double and a triple in his four starts.
Fun fact: The ancient Greek translation for Teodosio is "Three Bags" pic.twitter.com/wRUNzKh9td
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 7, 2024
In the opposing dugout, the Aviators play host to the Bees after dropping four of six games on the road against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys. Las Vegas features five of the Oakland Athletics top 30 prospects on its roster, with those being shortstop Max Muncy (#6), third baseman Brett Harris (#10), pitcher Joey Estes (#12), utility player Max Schuemann (#20) and infielder Logan Davidson (#24). The Bees will also have to deal with speedster Esteury Ruiz, who ranked second in the majors in stolen bases last year with 67.
The first pitch for the games on Tuesday through Saturday will take place at 8:05 p.m., while Sunday’s series finale is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.