Salt Lake Rallies, But Gets Walked Off for Second Straight Night

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS. - Salt Lake’s ninth-inning rally on Saturday tied the game at 7-7, but a pair of doubles in the home half enabled Sugar Land to collect a walk-off victory for the second straight night. Gustavo Campero’s game-tying homer sealed his third career four-hit night at Triple-A, but was not enough to avoid a sixth consecutive defeat.

Sugar Land 8, Salt Lake 7

WP: Christian Roa (2-0)

LP: Jared Southard (1-3)

Key Performers

Niko Kavadas: 2-4, HR, 3B, 4 RBI, R, BB, K

Gustavo Campero: 4-5, HR, 2 R, RBI, K

Omar Martinez: 2-4, RBI, R, K

Dillon Tate: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Game Summary

Rob Kaminsky, in his first Triple-A start since 2024, struck out the side to begin his outing in hopes of shifting the momentum to Salt Lake on Saturday. The Bees looked primed to open the scoring in the second, as Niko Kavadas led off the frame with a triple off a shallow fly ball. However, the next three hitters struck out to end the threat.

Back-to-back singles put Sugar Land in business in the home half. A RBI groundout was the method that the hosts invoked to go up 1-0.

Singles from Omar Martinez and Gustavo Campero created another threat for Salt Lake. Christian Moore was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Kavadas. Today’s right fielder provided the Bees’ biggest swing of the series, depositing his first professional grand slam over the wall in right center and a 4-1 advantage.

Huascar Ynoa worked around trouble in the third, stranding the bases loaded. However, Sugar Land got to him in the fourth, using three extra-base hits to score four times and flip the game to 5-4 Space Cowboys.

The arm barns were hard at work, posting zeros up to the seventh inning stretch. Alex Faedo entered for Salt Lake, making his Bees debut appearance. Sugar Land added important insurance off the right hander in the bottom half, cashing in with a two-run double to left center.

Salt Lake rallied in the ninth, starting with the bottom of their order. Pablo Reyes singled ahead of a Yolmer Sánchez walk. That sequence set up Martinez’s single that drove in one, making it 7-5. Sánchez moved to third on the base knock, scoring on a double play to get Salt Lake within one. Down to their final strike, Campero came through, tying the contest at 7-7 with a solo shot off the batter’s eye in center.

Jared Southard entered from the ‘pen, searching to send the game to extra innings for a second consecutive night. Facing the 3-4-5 hitters in Sugar Land’s lineup, the righty got incredibly unlucky with a groundball that hit off his foot and resulted in a double. Two batters later, Raynel Delgado took a 2-2 slider into the opposite field gap ending the game in walk-off jubilation for the hosts in back-to-back contests.

Game Notes

• After going all the way up until July without being walked off, the Bees have been walked off three times since July 7 including back-to-back nights. Saturday’s loss marked a season-long six game losing streak for Salt Lake who have dropped 10 of its last 11 games.

• The Bees struck out 15 times on Saturday, the second most this season after going down on strikes 20 times against Las Vegas on June 30. Salt Lake’s offense has accumulated 10 or more strikeouts in six consecutive games giving them a Triple-A high 264 punchouts since July 1.

• Niko Kavadas tripled on a shallow fly ball that got past a diving left fielder, marking his first three-bagger since July 31, 2025 at Oklahoma City. It is just his fourth career Triple-A triple and five total in his professional tenure. Kavadas added his seventh homer of the season in style, tallying a grand slam to right-center field. It is the South Bend, Ind., native’s first professional slam. Tonight was the second time Kavadas had a triple and homer in the same professional contest, last doing so on May 21, 2022 with Single-A Salem.

• Starting for the first time at Triple-A for the first time since September 22, 2024, Rob Kaminsky tallied two innings of work. He struck out the side in the first inning for the first time in his career, finishing with four total strikeouts. That punchout total is Kaminsky’s most in a single appearance since May 17, 2025 with the FCL Cardinals where he also had four strikeouts in two innings.

• Omar Martinez singled twice and earned an RBI in the contest. He has a hit in seven of his most recent nine games, batting 9-for-30 (.300) over that span. Martinez scored tonight, his third run in three games.

• Kyren Paris has walked in 10 of his last 11 games, as he extended his current on-base streak to 20 games with his four-inning free pass. He continues to excel away from home, holding a 1.206 OPS on the road.

• Catcher Gustavo Campero stopped an 0-for-12 slide with a four-hit night. His ninth-inning solo shot tied the game at 7-7 for Salt Lake. Campero scored twice tonight and has nine runs with Salt Lake. Campero has hits in seven of his 10 games as a Bee this season. It is his fifth multi-hit effort of the year and his third career four-hit performance at the Triple-A level (August 25, 2024 vs. Round Rock and April 20, 2025 at Sacramento).

• Christian Moore was hit by a pitch to load the bases ahead of Niko Kavadas. The infielder pushed his on-base streak to four games, courtesy of his eight plunking of the season. Moore scored on Kavadas’ slam, marking his 70th run of 2026. He walked later for his 60th free pass of the season, tied for fifth in the PCL.

• Pablo Reyes moved his on-base streak to three games, singling and scoring in the big ninth inning. The infielder has scored in consecutive contests and has 12 total as a Bee over 16 total games with the club.

• Huascar Ynoa was first out of the ‘pen, firing two innings. He yielded four earned runs, the most he’s allowed since June 6 vs. Albuquerque (0.1 IP, 4 ER). Ynoa did strike out one hitter, doing so in six straight outings.

• Dillon Tate twirled two scoreless frames with two strikeouts, bouncing back from his rough outing on Thursday. The righty has surrendered three earned runs in his first nine appearances with Salt Lake, compiling a 2.53 ERA.

• Making his affiliated Angels debut tonight was Alex Faedo. After five appearances at the Complex, the former College World Series Most Outstanding Player took the bump with Triple-A Salt Lake for the first time. His single inning tonight was his first at the level since July 18, 2025 with Durham when he threw one inning and allowed one run.

• Ben Joyce shined in his fourth outing of his rehab assignment with the Bees tonight. The flamethrower put his speed on display reaching at least 101 MPH on nine of his 11 pitches. Joyce topped 103.8 MPH on his final pitch of the outing, surpassing the previous fastest pitch recorded in the Minor Leagues this season, his 103.2 MPH heater on July 23 vs. Omaha. It is also the fastest pitch ever recorded in Constellation Field history.

Up Next

Sugar Land and Salt Lake conclude their series in the Lone Star State on Sunday evening. First pitch in the finale is set for 5:35 p.m. MDT from Constellation Field.