Rivero Sets off Fireworks with Walk-off Blast in the 11th

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PCL Salt Lake Bees

Rivero Sets off Fireworks with Walk-off Blast in the 11th

July 4, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


SOUTH JORDAN, UT - The Salt Lake Bees won Friday night's Fourth of July matchup against Tacoma in walk-off fashion as Sebastian Rivero provided the fireworks with an 11th inning blast to take down the Rainiers for the first time this season.

Salt Lake Bees 7, Tacoma Rainiers 6 (11)

WP: Kenyon Yovan (2 - 2)

LP: Trevor Gott (2 - 3)

Game Summary

Salt Lake got on the board early in the second by loading the bases with back-to-back singles from Carter Kieboom and Tucker Flint to lead off the inning with a walk to Yolmer Sanchez to follow. Sebastian Rivero brought the first run home grounding into a double play before Korey Holland came through with an RBI double off the wall in left center to make it 2-0.

Bees starting pitcher Brett Kerry cruised through two hitless innings with two strikeouts before Tacoma answered back with two of its own in the third. The Rainiers put five consecutive runners on base with two innings hitting three singles and drawing a pair of walks as Rhylan Thomas delivered the two-run knock to tie the game.

For the second straight inning Salt Lake opened with consecutive singles led off by Niko Kavadas with a tapper down the first base line before Scott Kingery lined one into left. Matthew Lugo put the two runners in scoring position with a sacrifice bunt to set the stage for Carter Kieboom to deliver a two-run single to left that gave the Bees back the lead at 4-2.

Tacoma threatened in the fifth loading the bases with nobody out on a pair of singles and a walk to Samad Taylor. Brett Kerry escaped the jam with little damage done, inducing a groundball play that brought a run in before a groundout by Tyler Locklear to third ended the inning with only one run coming across.

The Rainiers struck again in the seventh with their third two-out run of the night coming from Leo Rivas who lined a single into right that scored Jack Lopez who reached base on a walk tying the game 4-4.

The Bees looked to rally in the bottom of the frame as Chad Wallach reached on a hard-hit ball to left, followed by Niko Kavadas drawing his league-leading 58th walk of the year to put two on with no outs. Rainiers reliever Hagen Danner worked himself out of the jam, striking out Scott Kingery and inducing a 6-4-3 double play to escape the threat and keep Salt Lake off the board.

Salt Lake threatened again in the eighth, putting two aboard for the second straight inning as Carter Kieboom led off with his third hit of the night and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Matthew Lugo and a groundout from Yolmer Sánchez. Sebastian Rivero then worked a walk to put runners on the corners for Korey Holland. However, once again the Bees came up empty as Brandyn Garcia struck out Holland to end the inning and leave two runners stranded.

Neither side was able to break the tie in the last two innings as Carson Fulmer stranded a Rainiers runner at third while the Bees were sat down in order on strikes moving the game to the 10th.

Tacoma scratched across a run in the 10th, but the damage was limited as Carson Fulmer worked out of a bases-loaded jam with two strikeouts and a flyout to end the frame. Salt Lake answered in the bottom half, staying alive as Matthew Lugo ripped a 105.9 mph liner into left to score Scott Kingery from second. The rally was short-lived, however, as a comebacker double play and a called third strike on Tucker Flint sent the game into the 11th.

Blake Hunt gave Tacoma the lead back in the 11th with a lead off RBI single, but Kenyon Yovan limited the damage with two clutch strikeouts to hold the Rainiers to just one run.

Salt Lake answered in true Fourth of July fashion, as Sebastian Rivero delivered the fireworks, blasting a one-out, two-run walk-off homer over the right field wall to lift the Bees to a 7-6 win in extras.

Game Notes

Salt Lake defeated Tacoma for the first time this season (1-10) earning its second walk off win of the year moving to 33-51 in 2025 marking the second straight Fourth of July victory after beating Tacoma last year 10-7.

The Bees won their first in extra innings this season going 1-1 on the year with and 6-9 in one run games. Friday night's win marked the fifth consecutive extra innings victory over Tacoma and the fourth time in five of those games it came at home.

Sebastian Rivero delivered the first walk-off home run for Salt Lake since August 6, 2022 coming off the bat of Jake Gatewood against Oklahoma City.

Rivero's walk-off blast marked the second walk-off homer of his career, with the first coming in 2022 for Northwest Arkansas. It was his sixth home run of the season, his highest total since hitting seven in 2018. The two-run shot also gave him his seventh multi-RBI game of the year and his first since June 5 against Round Rock, when he drove in three.

Carter Kieboom went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, recording his 20th multi-hit game of the season, the most among active Bees, and now leads the team with eight games of three hits or more.

Niko Kavadas added a two-hit night of his own, marking his 16th multi-hit game of the year, trailing only Yolmer Sánchez and Kieboom. Kavadas also drew his 58th walk of the season, tying Alex Freeland for the most in Triple-A.

Matthew Lugo hit safely for the 15th time in his last 16 games, extending his hitting streak to a season-high eight games. He's driven in a run in five of his last seven contests and is batting .364/.400/.576 during the streak, which began on June 26, with eight RBI and six runs scored. His latest single left the bat at 105.9 MPH-his 18th hit this season with an exit velocity of 105+ MPH.

In his ninth start of the year Brett Kerry tallied five innings allowing three runs on seven while picking three strikeouts. In his last two home starts Kerry has kept opponents to three runs or less and made it the second time in his last six outings he did not allow a home run.

Up Next

Salt Lake and Tacoma will match up for game five of the series on Salt Lake Angels Night at The Ballpark at America First Square starting at 7:05 p.m. MST as Shaun Anderson (1-5, 5.89) and Sauryn Lao (0-3, 2.66) face off on the bump.

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