Bees Ride Four-Run Ninth to End Road Trip with Win Against Rainiers
The Salt Lake Bees ended their nine-game road trip in style on Wednesday afternoon, mounting another ninth-inning comeback to take down the Tacoma Rainiers by a final score of 7-6. The start of Wednesday’s contest looked eerily similar to the script from the night before, with the Bees jumping out
The Salt Lake Bees ended their nine-game road trip in style on Wednesday afternoon, mounting another ninth-inning comeback to take down the Tacoma Rainiers by a final score of 7-6.
The start of Wednesday’s contest looked eerily similar to the script from the night before, with the Bees jumping out ahead at the beginning before succumbing to a late Rainiers offensive outburst. This time around, Salt Lake took an early 3-0 lead, striking first blood in the third inning on a two-run home run by Michael Stefanic – his second in as many nights – and tacking on one more in the fourth on a solo blast by Jack López, his 10th of the season and sixth in just eight games at Cheney Stadium. This was promptly met by five unanswered runs from Tacoma, with the home team spoiling starter Kenny Rosenberg’s excellent day with a two-run shot by Leo Rivas in the fifth and then adding four more on two longballs off of reliever Kenyon Yovan by Jonatan Clase and Jason Vosler and an RBI single by Cade Marlowe off of Tyler Thomas to flip its three-run deficit into an advantage of the same number.
Make it back-to-back days with a home run for Michael Stefanic!
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) July 4, 2024
We lead 2-0 in the third! pic.twitter.com/qVP2HTcDQS
Unlike Tuesday’s game and more akin to last Thursday in Albuquerque, however, the Bees turned the tide with their backs against the wall, putting together a four-run ninth inning to stun the 7,231 fans in attendance in Tacoma. The late rally got started in a hurry, with a walk by Charles Leblanc and back-to-back singles by López and Zach Humphreys loading the bases with just one out. The next batter to step to the plate was D’Shawn Knowles, who came through in the clutch for a second consecutive night by punching a ball right up the middle to score two and bring Salt Lake to within one with the tying run just 90 feet away. This chased Rainiers reliever Brett de Geus from the game in favor of Trevor Kelley, who was quickly welcomed with a base hit from leadoff hitter Jake Marisnick to level the score up at six apiece and bring Knowles to third as the go-ahead run. The Bees did not have to wait long to bring this run in either, as Elliot Soto came up immediately after and laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Knowles and cap off the improbable comeback effort.
THE CARDIAC KIDS ARE BACK!
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) July 4, 2024
An RBI single by Jake Marisnick and a squeeze bunt by Elliot Soto make it a four-run ninth to give us the lead! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/6Mwme9ylaj
Armed with the newfound lead, Salt Lake handed the ball to Guillo Zuñiga to lock things down in the bottom of the ninth, and the big righthander responded by recording the first two outs of the inning on just two pitches. A walk issued to Rivas put the tying run on base and added some extra suspense, but on the very next plate appearance, Zuñiga got Nick Solak to line out to right to secure the well-earned victory for the Bees.
The Bees will now look to keep the momentum from this win rolling when the series against the Rainiers shifts to Salt Lake on Thursday, with Zach Plesac getting the assignment for the Fourth of July contest opposite Jhonathan Diaz for first pitch at 6:35 p.m.