Thaiss Gives Bees Walkoff Win

Matt Thaiss drilled a walk-off single to give the Salt Lake Bees a 6-5 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators on Monday night at Smith’s Ballpark.

The Bees and Aviators were deadlocked at 4 after three innings and remained there until the seventh when Francisco Pena hit a leadoff home run for the Aviators, but was answered in the bottom half as Taylor Ward hit a leadoff home run of his own. In the bottom of the ninth Drew Butera worked a leadoff walk and moved to third on a ground-rule double from Ward. Matt Thaiss then took a 1-1 pitch into the gap to give the Bees their third walk-off victory over Las Vegas this year and fifth overall.

Ward finished the night four-for-five with two doubles and the home run. Matt Thaiss, Jo Adell and Kean Wong each collected a multi-hit game, with Adell clubbing his team-leading 20th home run of the season. Scott Schebler also went deep with a solo shot in the second inning. Chris Rodriguez got the start for Salt Lake lasting four and two-thirds innings, allowing four earned runs while striking out four. Tyler Danish picked up the win for the Bees with two innings of scoreless work out of the bullpen.

The Bees will go for a series victory against the Aviators in the series finale Tuesday night at Smith’s Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.