Six in the Sixth spoils Sacramento’s Saturday, 6-3

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Six runs in the away half of the sixth spoiled a 3-0 lead for the Sacramento River Cats, ultimately leading them to a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Salt Lake Bees on Saturday.

Two runs crossed the plate on one swing of the bat for the River Cats (18-26/62-57) in the bottom of the first, as Trenton Brooks crushed a 2-0 offering deep over the wall in right-center field. That scored Thairo Estrada on the play, who had opened the frame with a ground-rule double.

Later in the third Estrada got another rally going, singling into left field and advancing to third on a single from Luis Matos. Though not flashy, Sacramento took advantage of a wild pitch from Bees (25-19/57-61) pitcher Jose Suarez, allowing Estrada to scamper home for a 3-0 edge.

Scoreless fourth and fifth frames led way to the sixth where Salt Lake stole all momentum in the contest, pushing across six runs courtesy of a pair of three-run homers. Taking advantage of a couple of lucky infield hits, Keston Hiura smashed his third home run in the past four games that knotted the contest at 3-3.

Salt Lake did not stop there, putting another pair of runners on with a walk and a single in front of Chad Wallach. Wallach took advantage of the moment, hammering the second three-run homer of the inning out to left-center field with two outs in the frame.

Now trailing by three, Sacramento was unable to get a rally going until their final turn at the dish in the home half of the ninth. Donovan Walton kicked off the inning with a double down the right-field line while Matos drew a free pass, brining up David Villar with two on and two out. Though he made good contact, Villar was just under the pitch and a flyball into right center brought an end to the contest.

Though he did not factor the decision, Sacramento starter Carson Ragsdale turned in his best effort of the season by blanking the Bees over five frames, allowing only a pair of hits while punching out eight. This was the second straight outing in which Ragsdale had struck out at least eight, coming on the heels of an 11-strikeout performance that set the season high for the River Cats.

Charged with the loss was Spencer Howard (2-3), as he surrendered both three-run blasts in the sixth while also allowing five total hits with one walk.

The top two spots in the Sacramento line up combined for just over half the hits for the River Cats, as both Estrada and Matos closed the night with a pair of hits each. For Estrada, he scored twice while lining a double, and he is now 6-for-16 (.375) over four games on his rehab assignment. Meanwhile, Brooks continues to top the .300 mark in the month of August, batting .304 (14-for-46) over 13 games in the month.

Sacramento will need to win in the series finale on Sunday if they want a series split, and the two teams line up for first pitch at 1:05 p.m. (PT).