River Cats Walk Off on Opening Day
Published on April 10, 2015 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Sacramento River Cats News Release
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Sacramento River Cats beat the Salt Lake Bees with a walk off home run from Adam Duvall Thursday night to kick off their 2015 season.
Behind two strong starting pitching displays from Sacramento's Robert Coello and Salt Lake's Adam Wilk, the teams traded zeros across eight frames before Duvall took a 3-2 pitch from Bees reliever Ryan Mattheus deep to left field for the walk off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Coello made quick work of the Bees lineup the first time through the order, needing only 33 pitches to get through three innings. He gave up only two hits while walking three and striking out seven over six total innings in what was his first start since 2012.
The River Cats had opportunities early, with runners on second and third with two outs in the first inning and again with runners on first and second with two outs in the fourth, but both times failed to score. The Bees had an opportunity to score in the sixth, with two on and only one out, but a quick double play between River Cats second baseman Brandon Hicks and shortstop Ronny Cedeno ended any potential threat.
The bases remained mostly empty until the top of the eighth inning when the River Cats found themselves in trouble. Grant Green and Alex Yarbrough started the inning with back-to-back singles, signaling the end of the night for River Cats reliever Brett Bochy. Bochy went 1+ inning and left with Green and Yarbrough on base. Steven Okert entered for Sacramento and immediately walked Bees third baseman Kyle Kubitza to load the bases. Okert then struck out Marc Krauss, got Alfredo Marte on a short fly ball to left, and Roger Kieschnick on another fly to left to get the River Cats out of the jam.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Bees brought in RHP Mattheus to face the right-handed Duvall. After working the count full, Duvall hit the game-winning home run just over the wall in left field. Duvall finished 2-3 with a walk, reaching base three times on the night.
The two teams return to Raley Field on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Sacramento and Salt Lake will pit southpaw against southpaw, with Braulio Lara (0-0, No ERA) starting for the River Cats and Andrew Heaney (0-0, No ERA) taking the mound for the Bees.
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