Stefanic Gives Bees Walk Off Win

Michael Stefanic delivered a two-out walk-off single to give the Salt Lake Bees (26-36) a 5-4 win and series victory over the Tacoma Rainiers (35-27) on Saturday night.

The Bees trailed 3-1 early before Zach Neto hit a ball 440-feet to the left field concession stand to tie the game up in the fifth inning. The blast was the longest home run of Neto’s professional career. Tacoma answered with a run in the top of the sixth to retake the lead and then retired six straight Salt Lake batters across the sixth and seventh innings. The Bees began their comeback with a two-out rally in the eighth as Livan Soto scored on a Zach Humphreys double to knot things back up at 4. Jared Oliva singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt to set the stage for a walk-off win. Stefanic lined a 1-0 pitch over Tacoma right fielder Jarred Kelenic’s head to give the Bees their eighth walk-off win of the season. The win improved the Bees record to 40-28 at home, their most wins at Smith's Ballpark since 2013.

Robinson Pina had his second consecutive strong start for the Bees on the mound allowing three runs over five innings. Jonathan Holder picked up his first win of the season with two scoreless innings to finish the game for the Bees bullpen. Neto, Stefanic and Oliva each had multi-hit games. Stefanic has reached base safely in 28 straight games and hit safely in 10 straight, collecting multiple hits in eight of the 10 as he rapidly approaches the 2023 PCL batting average crown.

The win guaranteed the Bees a series victory over the Rainiers having taken four of the first five of the series. The two teams will finish off the six-game set on Sunday afternoon with first pitch coming at 1:05 p.m.