Cats Pound Out 15 Hits, Coast to 8-2 Win Over Bees

SALT LAKE CITY – Six runs from the third through the fifth more than sent the Sacramento River Cats on their way to a victory, as they found a way to snap their three-game losing streak with a 8-2 victory over the Salt Lake Bees on Saturday.

After the two teams combined for only a single hit in the first two frames, the River Cats (29-33/73-64) finally broke through in the third when consecutive douvbes from Trenton Brooks and David Villar resulted in the game’s first run.

An inning later in the fourth and Sacramento put together its biggest inning of the day, putting a pair of runners on in Hunter Bishop and Donovan Walton thanks to a pair of singles before a sacrifice bunt from Christian Koss moved both into scoring position. The bunt hardly mattered, as Wade Meckler stepped to the plate and crushed his second homer in the past three games, launching a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right field for his sixth of the year.

Scoring continued in the fifth as Sacramento put each of the first two batters on, the first of which in Villar ended up scoring on a wild pitch. Still on base with one out, Andrew Knapp later came around to score on a single from Casey Schmitt.

The Bees (32-30/64-72) turned in their only response in the home half of the frame, plating two as a Chad Stevens double scored when Shane Matheny tripled in the next at-bat, while Matheny later scored on a Cole Tucker single into center.

Sacramento’s last bit of insurance came in the eighth inning, adding two more two its total when Trenton Brooks was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for an RBI while Villar earned an RBI with a single into center.

Starter Kai-Wei Teng (3-5) ended as the winning pitcher of record, lasting a full 5.0 innings while allowing two runs on four hits, striking out only one with four walks. Both Justin Garza and Tyler Myrick worked the final 4.0 innings, combing to yield only one hit (Myrick) while both punched out a pair.

Villar was the top River Cat at the dish with his four knocks, and he is now 9-for-19 (.474) with three runs scored, four doubles, two homers and six RBI in this series. Just behind him is Donovan Walton with a 3-for-5 effort, scoring once in the process. Meanwhile, both Knapp and Meckler each had two hits.

Still trailing two games to three in the series, the River Cats will look to attempt a series split when the two teams meet for the series finale on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. (PT).