Extra Inning Battle Concludes with Bees Loss at Albuquerque

The Salt Lake Bees were defeated by the Albuquerque Isotopes in a back-and-forth affair on Friday night at Isotopes Park, falling 12-11 in 11 innings for their sixth walk-off loss of the season.

Coming into tonight’s game, the Bees were 4-2 in games that required extra frames with their last extra inning contest coming on June 6 versus Sugar Land at Smith’s Ballpark, where the Space Cowboys concluded the night with a 3-2 victory in 10 innings.

Both teams combined for 11 pitchers as Salt Lake used five arms with the return of southpaw Kenny Rosenberg. Rosenberg made his first start since June 5 where he was injured in the first inning after firing just nine pitches, finding himself on the 7-day injured list on June 12. Rosenberg put together a strong outing in his return, finishing with four complete innings of work, allowing one solo home run on three hits, and punching out five. Brett Kerry was the first out of the bullpen and struggled to keep the Albuquerque bats at bay, getting tagged for six runs as five came in the fifth inning before allowing a home run in the sixth. After Kerry totaled two innings, Luis Ledo entered in relief and hurled two innings as well while giving up just one hit. With a two-run lead heading into the ninth inning, Tayron Guerrero looked to slam the door but instead gave up a pair of runs to tie the game. With the game in extra innings, Guerrero allowed the automatic runner to score before Tyler Thomas (L, 0-2) allowed two runs to cross and end Friday’s meeting.

Offensively, runs were at a premium as the bats picked up right where the left off following Thursday’s win. Five different Salt Lake hitters recorded multi-hit performances as Kyren Paris, Michael Stefanic, Keston Hiura, Jack Lopez, and Jake Marisnick all notched a pair of hits. Continuing his tear in the black and yellow, Keston Hiura punished two home runs for the second consecutive night to lift a team-leading nine home runs in just 14 games. It’s the third multi-homer game of the season for Hiura and the 13^th of his career. Hiura joins Jack Lopez as the only other Bee to record consecutive multi-homer games this season as they are two of three players in the PCL who have consecutive multi-homer games, tied with Sacramento’s Tyler Fitzgerald.

To start the game off, the Bees were white hot as five consecutive hitters reached with one out. Hiura set the tone with a two-run home run before Jack Lopez drove home a pair with a double, giving Salt Lake a quick 4-0 lead. Jake Marisnick reintroduced himself in his first at-bat since coming off the 7-day injured list, hammering his first home run of the season and stretching the Bees’ lead to five runs in the second inning. Greg Jones got Albuquerque on the board in the third inning with a solo shot before an explosive fifth inning saw five runs come to the plate with the help of just one extra base hit, giving the Isotopes a 6-5 advantage. Trevor Boone tallied the seventh unanswered run by the home club with a solo big fly in the sixth inning, his third of the season. The Bees rallied back in the seventh inning with a three-run frame to retake the lead after Stefanic drove in a run with a single while Hiura took flight again for his ninth long ball with the Bees, making it 8-7.

SEE YA! KESTON HIURA CANNOT BE STOPED!! 🤯

Hiura punishes his team-leading NINTH home run in just 14 games with the Bees to retake the lead in Albuquerque! pic.twitter.com/zol6HULDbA

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) June 29, 2024

Lopez picked up another RBI in the eighth inning, doubling home Jordyn Adams and tacking on an insurance run. The bottom of the ninth created chaos at Isotopes Park as Jimmy Herron pulled Albuquerque within one run with an RBI single before Grant Lavigne lined a two-out RBI triple to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

Both teams scored their automatic runners from second base in the 10^th inning as Bryce Teodosio and Jameson Hannah each lifted a sacrifice fly. Paris put the lead back into Salt Lake’s hands in the 11^th inning, roping a one-out double to plate pinch-runner Zach Humphreys from second. With Thomas looking to shut down the Isotopes, he walked the first two batters he saw to load the bases before inducing a line out to prevent any runs from scoring. In a game that took 3 hours and 13 minutes and marked the third longest game of the season, the contest was finally sealed after Connor Kaiser slashed a double to score the tying and winning runs.

The Bees and the Isotopes will continue their thrilling series tomorrow evening at Isotopes Park. First pitch is posted for 6:35 p.m. as Andrew Wantz is set to start for the Bees while Tanner Gordon is making the start for the Isotopes.