PCL Sacramento River Cats

River Cats Falls to Bees

Published on May 12, 2023 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Sacramento River Cats News Release


WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Looking for their third consecutive victory after initially building a 2-0 lead in the early goings, the Sacramento River Cats were unable to hold onto the lead as the Salt Lake Bees scored five unanswered runs and stole a 5-2 victory on Thursday.

River Cats' (17-19) lefty Kyle Harrison set the tone early in the first when he struck out the side while working around a walk to Jo Adell, then continued to deal in the second by setting the side down in order with a pair of groundouts and his fourth strikeout. The Sacramento offense nearly got him some run support in their first trip to the dish, but a two-out rally consisting of a walk to Matt Beaty and a single into right center by Patrick Bailey ended with the pair stranded at the corners. Two defensive miscues on the same play by the Bees (16-20) resulted in the game's first run, as a Ford Proctor ground ball to second base was booted by Michael Stefanic allowing him to reach first. Compounding his mistake, Stefanic then tried to throw behind Shane Matheny and catch him hanging too far off third base, but the throw sailed high and into the Sacramento dugout. That moved both runners up a base, scoring Matheny who had walked and stolen second to open the inning.

An insurance run came on a loud crack of the bat during the home half of the third, as Tyler Fitzgerald homered for the second time in as many days when he launched a ball to deep left field, making the score 2-0. That came after Harrison continued to carve through the Salt Lake lineup, issuing a pair of free passes in the frame but dancing out of danger with another pair of strikeouts.

Unfortunately, Harrison was not able to repeat the feat in what became an eventful fourth, starting the inning with a strikeout and a hit batter before Bees' manager Keith Johnson was ejected on the first pitch of Jordyn Adams' at-bat for arguing an automatic strike call. It hardly mattered to Adams as he lined a double into right center, but the River Cats got a bit of luck when the ball bounced over the wall for a ground rule double which kept the lead runner from scoring.

With a pair in scoring position and only one out, Harrison was able to punch out his eighth and final batter of the night. That matched his season high which he did against on April 25 against Oklahoma City, and marked the fourth consecutive game that he has struck out seven or more. That brought to the plate Zack Humphreys, who denied Harrison his second straight scoreless appearance and chased him from the game with a two-out, two-RBI double.

Offense for both sides went down with little resistance in the middle innings, with just a single runner reaching base over the fifth and sixth innings on a walk to Kevin Padlo in the fifth. Part of that was due to the bullpens for both sides, which included Melvin Adon taking over for Harrison and recording three of his four outs via strikeout.

In the sixth Adon was lifted for Drew Strotman (1-4), who after sitting down the side in order, ran into trouble to start the seventh. He was able to strikeout Adell, one of four strikeouts in the game for Adell, but a leadoff walk issued to David Fletcher came back to hurt as Trey Cabbage hooked a ball into the right field corner for an RBI double to give Salt Lake its first lead of the night.

A strikeout had Strotman on the verge of limiting the damage, but consecutive singles from Stefanic (RBI) and Adams preceded a double-steal that made it a three-spot in the seventh and gave Salt Lake the lead, 5-2.

Trying to immediately answer, Sacramento put a pair on thanks to a leadoff single from Cal Stevenson and a walk from Beaty, with the Stevenson single snapping a streak of eight straight retired by Salt Lake. Bees reliever Jonathan Diaz (1-0), who was now in line for the win after not allowing a run in 2.1 innings, then gave way to Jonathan Holder (S, 1) who punched out the next two hitters looking to keep the score at 5-2.

Though the River Cats put a runner on in effort to build a late-inning comeback, Holder sat down two more on strikes in the eighth before punching out the side with a walk in the ninth to bring an end to the contest. Even in a relief appearance, Holder ended his night allowing just one hit in 2.2 scoreless innings.

All five Sacramento hits came from different bats, but only the Fitzgerald blast went for extra bases, and Beaty drew a pair of free passes. The pitching staff for both teams combined to throw 14 strikeouts in the contest, four shy of the season-high that Sacramento recorded in that same contest on April 25 against Oklahoma City. Though he matched his season-best and the River Cats' individual season-high with eight strikeouts, Harrison did issue three walks for the sixth time in his eight starts.

These two teams return to Sutter Health Park on Friday for game four of this series, with first pitch tossed at 6:45 p.m.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from May 12, 2023


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