Kitties Drop Fifth Straight, Fall 9-1 to Bees

SALT LAKE CITY – In a game that was scoreless heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Sacramento River Cats endured a disastrous ending to Friday night’s contest a Smith’s Ballpark. Sacramento saw the Salt Lake Bees score nine runs over the final three frames and had two players leave the field due to injury in a 9-1 loss. With the loss, the River Cats also suffer their first series loss of the season.

River Cats starter Landen Roupp was sensational in his second Triple-A outing. Roupp retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced and allowed just one hit while striking out six. The one hit allowed was a leadoff double to Bryce Teodosio in the third, and Roupp was able to pitch around it despite Teodosio reaching third base with just one out.

Tanner Andrews (1-2) took over for Roupp in the fifth and retired the first four batters he faced before issuing a one-out walk to Jack Lopez in the sixth, which opened the door for the Bees to break the ice. After a Jordyn Adams single put two aboard, Elliot Soto drove a ball to left field that caromed off the wall and far away from Yusniel Diaz, who fell to the ground and grabbed his right knee. Shortstop Brett Wisely recovered the ball and made an errant throw back to the infield that allowed Soto to come in and score and make it a 3-0 Salt Lake lead.

Andrews came back out for the seventh and after allowing a walk and a single, saw Teodosio hit a tapper to the third base side of the infield. Andrews made a sliding attempt to recover the ball and came up injured and limped off the field. A run scored on the play, and two more would score two batters later when Adams hit a two-out, two-run double off Cody Stashak to make it 6-0. Andrews allowed six runs (five earned) on four hits in two-plus innings as he suffered the loss.

Bees starter Brett Kerry (1-0) was brilliant on the night and worked eight innings, allowing one run in the eighth on a sac fly by Wisely after back-to-back hits from Ismael Munguia and Luis Matos. Kerry earned his first PCL win, allowing just three hits while walking two and striking out four.

The Bees plated three more runs in the bottom of the eighth facing Cody Stashak on RBI singles by Chad Teodosio, Wallach and Zach Humphreys.

The River Cats and Bees continue their series on Saturday night at Smith’s Ballpark. First pitch is set for 5:35 p.m. PT.