Salt Lake to Host Kris Bryant and the Isotopes For Six-Game Set

The Salt Lake Bees return home to Smith’s Ballpark to host the Albuquerque Isotopes for a six game series beginning on Tuesday night. This visit from Albuquerque will be the only trip to Salt Lake City for the Rockies Triple-A affiliate this season. The Isotopes are expected to have 2016 NL MVP and World Series Champion Kris Bryant join the club for an injury rehab assignment for the games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Bees (19-17) are coming off a road trip to Las Vegas where they split the series three games each and are one game back of the division leading Aviators for first place in the PCL West. The Salt Lake offense has been on a hot streak scoring 10 or more runs in five of their last eight games. Jo Adell has led the charge since being optioned by the Angels, hitting five home runs and six doubles in eight games with the Bees. Fellow outfielder Dillon Thomas has posted a .340 average in May with a league-leading 17 RBI in the month.

On the mound the key to success has been the Bees starting pitching. Salt Lake starters hold a 3.83 ERA, tops in the Pacific Coast League and have gone deep into games, pitching a Triple-A high 183.1 innings so far this season. The Bees are expected to have LHP Kenny Rosenberg, LHP Jake Kalish, LHP Jose Suarez, LHP Ryan Smith, RHP Janson Junk and RHP Davis Daniel in the rotation for the upcoming series.

Albuquerque (16-20) is also coming off a series where they earned a series split after hosting the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at Isotopes Park last week. The Isotopes offense will get a boost from Bryant alongside veteran Wynton Bernard who sits in second place in the PCL in average at .356 and leads the league with an eye-popping .700 slugging percentage. The Isotopes have five of the Rockies top 30 prospects according to MLBPipeline.com on the roster in infielder Elehuris Montero (#4), outfielder Ryan Vilade (#9), pitcher Helcris Olivarez (#17), pitcher Ryan Feltner (#21) and infielder Colton Welker (#23). Montero has had an excellent start to the season hitting .294 with seven home runs and 19 RBI this season.

The Rockies placed Kris Bryant on the 10-Day IL on April 29 with back pain. Bryant had been hitting .281 (16-for-57) with four doubles and four RBI in 15 games for Colorado so far in 2022 before hitting the injured list. The four-time All-Star signed a seven-year, $172 million deal with the Rockies in the offseason.

Promotions for this week at Smith’s Ballpark include Smith’s Family Night on Tuesday, Utah Prevention Day presented by Med One, Resilient Utah and Something Good Inc. on Wednesday with 10,000 5th and 6th graders coming to the park for a special 11:05 start, Budweiser Thirsty Thursday, Military Appreciation Night Saturday where current and former Military members can get two free tickets and 50% off additional tickets by presenting a valid ID at the ballpark box office and U of U Health Safe in the SUNday.