Salt Lake Loses Heartbreaker to OKC in 11 Innings
The Salt Lake Bees lost a heartbreaker to the Oklahoma City Baseball Club on Saturday evening, rallying in the final frame of regulation to force extras but eventually falling by a final score of 5-4 in the 11th inning. The day started off well enough for the Bees, as they
The Salt Lake Bees lost a heartbreaker to the Oklahoma City Baseball Club on Saturday evening, rallying in the final frame of regulation to force extras but eventually falling by a final score of 5-4 in the 11th inning.
The day started off well enough for the Bees, as they put a run up on the scoreboard in the opening frame for the second time in three days after Jordyn Adams impressively scored from second base on a flyout into right field off the bat of Jason Martin. After that, however, the team went ice cold with the bats, failing to record a hit through eight innings against the trio of Hyun-il Choi, Matt Gage and Ricky Vanasco. Salt Lake finally broke up the no-hitter in the top of the ninth on a leadoff single by Martin, and from there, the comeback effort began in earnest. A walk by Zach Humphreys and an infield base hit by Hunter Dozier loaded up the bases with one out, and one batter later, an error by right fielder Chris Owings on a well-struck ball from Bryce Teodosio brought home the Bees’ second run of the day and moved everyone else up 90 feet. They would level things up at three apiece immediately after, with a slow-roller off the bat of Andy Blake doing just enough to bring the tying run home and stun the Oklahoma City crowd.
Salt Lake appeared to have carried this momentum into extra innings, taking the lead in the top of the 10th after a wild pitch from reliever Kevin Gowdy allowed Landon Wallace to stroll home from third base. Oklahoma City snatched it right back, though, tying things back up in the bottom half of the frame on a leadoff base hit by Owings and then keeping the Bees off the scoreboard entirely in the top of the eleventh. This gave OKC a prime opportunity to walk things off, and it was former Bee Kevin Padlo that dealt the final blow to his former team, bouncing a high chopper in the infield that gave second baseman Elliot Soto no play at the plate as the winning run came home.
The Bees will now try to shake off the tough loss and earn a series split in the finale against Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled to take place at 1:05 p.m.