Bees Bested By Grizzlies

The Salt Lake Bees fell for the third straight night, falling 4-2 to the Fresno Grizzlies on Saturday night at Smith's Ballpark.

The Bees and Grizzlies traded runs in the third inning as A.J. Reed scored Rico Noel on a groundout for Fresno and Michael Hermosillo brought home Sherman Johnson a sacrifice fly for Salt Lake. Fresno's Drew Ferguson hit a two-run double off the top of the left field wall to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning. The Bees would battle back with a run in the bottom of the seventh on a Dustin Ackley ground out, but Fresno answered back with an insurance run in the eighth. Salt Lake got a leadoff walk in the ninth inning, but left the tying run at the plate.
"Right now obviously we got guys going on fumes, guys that are huge to us," Bees manager Keith Johnson said. "These guys are doing their best to try to help us out here, but (Thorton) did a good job, he hit his spots, pounded the zone, made us swing early."
Swingman Manny Bañuelos (5-6) got the start for the Bees, taking the loss after allowing two runs over four and one-third innings. Drew Gagnon followed Banuelos with three innings of relief allowing two runs before giving way to scoreless outings from Greg Mahle and Brooks Pounders. Rey Navarro led the Bees offense with a two-hit night, scoring a run.
The Bees and Grizzlies have two games remaining in the regular season finishing up with a 7:05 start on Sunday night and a 12:05 day game on Labor Day. Tickets are available on www.slbees.com.