Bees Fall to Dodgers in a Rain-Delayed Affair

The Salt Lake Bees (18-26) fell to the Oklahoma City Dodgers (25-19) 4-1 in front of 9,022 fans on Princess Night at Smith’s Ballpark as a 93-minute rain delay seemingly took the juice out of both offenses for the remainder of the contest.

Salt Lake was fighting an uphill battle from the beginning as Oklahoma City jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to a three-run homer by Ryan Ward. Play was then suspended for an hour and thirty-three minutes as rain arrived at Smith’s Ballpark and put the bats on ice. Following the delay, both offenses were effectively shut down for the remainder of the affair as neither team registered an RBI and combined to score just once. The Dodgers nearly scored in the third inning as a runner tagged up from third base on what appeared to be a sacrifice fly but was gunned down by Bees left fielder Jack Lopez on an amazing throw to the plate. Salt Lake responded by loading the bases in the third with a David Fletcher double and walks by Michael Stefanic and Kevin Padlo but could only score one run as OKC’s Kyle Hurt balked to score Fletcher for the lone Bees run of the night. This is just the second time in 2023 that Salt Lake has failed to score more than one run in consecutive games.

Bees starter JD Hammer (L, 0-1) allowed four first-inning runs but was excellent following the rain delay. He conceded no runs and just four hits in his next four innings of work but earned the first loss of his Bees career. Cam Vieaux entered in the sixth and stifled the Dodger offense, allowing just one hit in two scoreless innings and striking out the side in the seventh frame. Zack Weiss and Jonathan Holder took care of the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, combining for three K’s as both threw a scoreless one-hit frame.

The Bees and Dodgers will meet for the finale of their six-game series in a matinee matchup on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.