Salt Lake Comes Up Short in Series Finale Against Las Vegas
The Salt Lake Bees came up short in their series finale against the Las Vegas Aviators on Sunday afternoon, falling by a final score of 10-6 and dropping their fifth game in six tries this week. The earlier start time on Sunday did not help wake up the Bees dormant
The Salt Lake Bees came up short in their series finale against the Las Vegas Aviators on Sunday afternoon, falling by a final score of 10-6 and dropping their fifth game in six tries this week.
The earlier start time on Sunday did not help wake up the Bees dormant bats at the beginning of the game, with the team getting held off the scoreboard entirely through the first four innings by Las Vegas starter Robert Dugger while the Aviators pushed four early runs across the plate on the other side against José Suarez. The first signs of life for Salt Lake came in the bottom of the fifth, when a run of four base hits in five batters capped off by RBI singles from Cole Tucker and Jake Marisnick chased Dugger from the game and brought the deficit back down to two.
These signs of life would get even stronger two innings later, as the Bees managed to level the score up at four apiece on a two-RBI double right down the line in left field by Marisnick. This would not hold for long, however, with Las Vegas exploding for six unanswered runs in the game’s final two frames to take its advantage back and then some. The outburst kicked off in the eighth, when the Aviators got their rally going with four consecutive base hits off of reliever Tayron Guerrero to push across a pair of runs. The dagger came soon after this in the form of a three-run home run off the bat of Brett Harris, a blast that gave Las Vegas its largest lead of the afternoon.
Jake Rakes: Clutch Edition ❄️
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) August 11, 2024
Jake Marisnick ties us up at four on a two-RBI double right down the left-field line! pic.twitter.com/SjnitriVAi
After the Aviators tallied another run in the ninth, the Bees made things interesting with their backs against the wall, pushing across two runs of their own on singles by Marisnick and Jason Martin and loading the bases up soon after. This brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Niko Kavadas, who lifted the first pitch from new pitcher Pedro Santos a mile high into center field and into the glove of a sliding Cooper Bowman, a nice catch that stopped the Bees rally dead in its tracks.
The Bees will now head up to Sacramento for a six-game road series against the River Cats, with the opener Tuesday set to kick off at 7:45 p.m. The two teams last squared off in the middle of July right before the All-Star Break, with Salt Lake taking home victories in four of the six games at Smith’s Ballpark.