Bees Lose to Aviators in Walk-Off Fashion
The Salt Lake Bees were walked off by the Las Vegas Aviators in the third game of their series on Thursday evening, falling by a final score of 3-2 on a game-winning base hit in the ninth inning off the bat of Jordan Diaz. In similar fashion to Wednesday’s contest,
The Salt Lake Bees were walked off by the Las Vegas Aviators in the third game of their series on Thursday evening, falling by a final score of 3-2 on a game-winning base hit in the ninth inning off the bat of Jordan Diaz.
In similar fashion to Wednesday’s contest, both teams got their bats going quickly on Thursday, throwing punches back and forth through the early innings of the game. The Aviators struck first in the opening frame, hanging a run on Bees starter Reid Detmers right away on an RBI double down the left field line by Tyler Nevin. Salt Lake would answer back immediately after this, though, scoring two in the second after Chad Wallach doubled off the wall in right field with two outs to bring home one and then came around to score another one batter later after a throwing error by Las Vegas third baseman Armando Alvarez. This lead would hold for just two innings, as the Aviators tied things back up at two apiece in the fourth after Diaz ambushed a first-pitch changeup from Detmers and crushed it 434 feet to left for his fifth home run of the year.
Early offense 🙌
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) June 14, 2024
Chad Wallach bangs one off the wall in right field to level things up in the second! pic.twitter.com/4fnUVYYdK6
After the early battle between the two offenses, the score would stay knotted up until the very end of the game, with the pitching staffs of both teams doing their best to hold serve. Detmers finished his day strong, completing six full innings while allowing just two earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out seven, and on the other side, the combination of starter Robert Dugger and relievers Grant Holman and Francisco Pérez kept the Bees out of the hit column entirely from the third inning all the way through the eighth. This period of inactivity came to an end in the bottom of the ninth, however, as the Aviators quickly kicked things into high gear against Salt Lake righty Guillo Zuñiga. Back-to-back singles by Ryan Noda and Yohel Pozo led off the game’s final frame, and with the two runners on, Diaz bounced a high chopper over the heads of the Bees infielders to bring home Noda and give Las Vegas its second win of the week in walk-off fashion.
The Bees will now try to shake off the tough loss to the Aviators and bounce back in the fourth game of the series on Friday, with Davis Daniel currently slated to take the ball opposite Osvaldo Bido for first pitch at 8:05 p.m.