Kerry Deals Quality Starts, Bees Rally in 6-4 Win Over River Cats

Sports stats

PCL Salt Lake Bees

Kerry Deals Quality Starts, Bees Rally in 6-4 Win Over River Cats

July 11, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - The Salt Lake Bees took the upper hand in the series with a 6-4 win on Thursday night behind Brett Kerry's quality start coming from behind with all six runs coming from the fifth to the seventh inning.

Salt Lake Bees 6, Sacramento River Cats 4

WP: Brett Kerry (3 - 5)

LP: Raymond Burgos (0 - 1)

SV: Touki Toussaint (2)

Game Summary

The first two innings of Thursday night's game began in similar fashion as each team collected one single in the first before going down in order in the second.

Sacramento put the pressure on in the third with a leadoff single from Thomas Gavello who eventually would be caught stealing before a walk and double followed. With runners in scoring position and one out, Brett Kerry dialed in forcing a shallow fly ball to left and inning ending groundout to third to keep the River Cats scoreless.

The River Cats broke the scoreless tie in the fourth with a leadoff homer from Marco Luciano before a two-out knock from Gavello extended the lead to 3-0 on the two-run blast.

The Bees were retired in order 10 straight times before finally breaking through in the bottom of the fifth, when Sebastian Rivero drew a leadoff walk to give Salt Lake its first base runner since the opening frame.

Rivero's walk sparked a three-run rally that erased a 3-0 deficit as nine total came to the plate. Tucker Flint followed with a double to right-center, and Chad Wallach brought home Rivero with a play at the plate to get Salt Lake on the board. Mitchell Daly then ripped an RBI double to left, scoring Flint, and Niko Kavadas added to the rally with a single to right-center that plated Daly. The Bees kept the pressure on, loading the bases with one out, but a forceout at home and a strikeout by Chad Stevens ended the inning with the game tied at 3-3.

Salt Lake took the lead for the first time in the sixth inning, as Mitchell Daly came through once again delivering a two-out, go-ahead RBI single with Sebastian Rivero scoring from second for the second time, beating the throw at the plate to make it 4-3.

Salt Lake extended their lead in the seventh after Niko Kavadas was hit by a pitch to open the frame. Following a double play off the bat of Scott Kingery, the Bees strung together three straight singles from Matthew Lugo, Chad Stevens, and Sebastián Rivero. Lugo came around to score on Rivero's base hit, and moments later, Stevens stole home while Rivero swiped second to cap off a two-run inning and make it 6-3.

Sacramento mounted a small rally in the ninth. After two quick outs, Thomas Gavello doubled and scored on a Drew Ellis single, trimming the deficit to 6-4. However, Grant McCray struck out to end the game, sealing the win for Salt Lake.

Game Notes

Salt Lake took control of the series with a 6-4 win over the Sacramento River Cats, scoring all six of its runs between the fifth and seventh innings. The victory improved the Bees to 35-54 on the season and marked their 13th win in a game decided by two runs or fewer out of 29 such contests.

Thursday's matchup was the fifth of the season between Salt Lake and Sacramento to be decided by two runs or less, with the Bees now 2-3 in those games. They also improved to 11-10 in the season series.

Brett Kerry recorded Salt Lake's seventh quality start against Sacramento this year and the team's 18th overall--second-most in the Pacific Coast League behind only the River Cats (20). Kerry earned his second quality start of the season, both against Sacramento, allowing three runs in the fourth inning while facing the minimum in the second, fifth, and sixth. He set season highs in innings pitched and strikeouts while allowing his fewest hits since June 22--also against the River Cats.

Touki Toussaint closed out the final three innings to earn his second save of the season and first since April 10 against Reno. He struck out four, his most in any outing of three innings or fewer.

Matthew Lugo extended his hitting streak to 13 games and has now hit safely in 20 of his last 21. His two-hit night marked his 17th multi-hit game of the season. He has scored in five consecutive games, tying the longest active run-scoring streak in Triple-A. Since the start of his streak on June 26, Lugo is batting .426 with 12 RBIs, 12 runs scored, a 1.168 OPS, and 23 hits--just one behind Zac Veen (Albuquerque) for the most in Triple-A during that span.

Mitchell Daly extended his hitting streak to five games, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, including the tying and go-ahead runs. It was his fourth multi-RBI game of the season. Over his last five games, Daly is hitting .471/.526/.529 with three RBIs and four runs scored, including his first double since April 22 against Oklahoma City.

Sebastian Rivero made an impact off the bench, entering as a pinch-hitter in the fifth and finishing 1-for-1 with an RBI and two runs scored. It was his 25th RBI of the season and his first multi-run game since June 24.

Up Next

Salt Lake and Sacramento will square off for game four on Friday night as the Bees kick off Country Weekend with Shaun Anderson (1-6, 6.62) and Carson Ragsdale (4-3, 4.82) taking the mound with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. MST at The Ballpark at America First Square.

Check out the Salt Lake Bees Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from July 11, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Salt Lake Bees Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central