Salt Lake Bats Catch Fire in Series-Ending Victory Against Aces
The Salt Lake Bees wrapped things up against the Reno Aces in style on Sunday afternoon, securing their second win of their road series in the finale by a final score of 11-3. After hanging just two runs on the board in their loss on Saturday night, the Bees got
The Salt Lake Bees wrapped things up against the Reno Aces in style on Sunday afternoon, securing their second win of their road series in the finale by a final score of 11-3.
After hanging just two runs on the board in their loss on Saturday night, the Bees got their offense heated up quickly on Sunday, jumping on Reno starter Cristian Mena for runs in the second and third innings on a solo home run by Jack López and an RBI single by Jason Martin respectively. The crooked number for the Salt Lake bats came in the fourth, when they sent all nine hitters to the plate en route to a five-run inning that put the team in complete control for the rest of the day. Zach Humphreys got things started in the frame with a run-scoring base hit, and a few batters later, Martin and Michael Stefanic joined in on the fun with knocks of their own to bring home three more between them. The final run was pushed across on a sacrifice fly by Charles Leblanc, which increased the Bees’ advantage up to 7-1.
We've got a crooked number in the fourth!
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) June 2, 2024
Jason Martin two-RBI single -> Michael Stefanic RBI knock -> Charles Leblanc sac fly -> 5-run inning 🤩 pic.twitter.com/WNue44hhuQ
The biggest day at the plate for Salt Lake came from Martin, who tallied the first five-hit game for a Bees player since Kevin Padlo on August 6 of last season against El Paso while also matching a team-high with three RBI. The other person to drive home three runs was Drew Ellis, who did so with one swing of the bat in the sixth inning for his fourth home run since joining the team in early May. Beyond those two, Stefanic and López notched the other multi-hit performances for the team, and Leblanc walked away with a pair of RBI on two separate sacrifice flies.
That's a 5⃣-hit game for Jason Martin, our first of the season! pic.twitter.com/GRABydeMH0
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) June 2, 2024
On the mound, Davis Daniel turned in a very nice performance for the Bees, working six full innings while allowing just two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out a season-high eight batters. This solid effort for Daniel was made possible by the success of his slider, which induced a whopping 13 whiffs on 24 swings against it. Behind Daniel, the trio of Bryan Shaw, Tayron Guerrero and Kenyon Yovan brought the game to the finish line with no real trouble, combining to allow just one run over the final three innings of the game.
The Bees will now return home to Smith’s Ballpark for a six-game series against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, with the first game of that set scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.