Salt Lake Falls in Game Five, 4-2, Despite Holding an 8-4 Hit Advantage
Published on August 16, 2025 under Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release
SUGAR LAND, Texas - The Salt Lake Bees fell 4-2 to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Saturday night, despite holding an 8-4 advantage in hits. With the win, Sugar Land secured a series split, setting up a decisive finale on Sunday evening.
Sugar Land Space Cowboys 4, Salt Lake Bees 2
WP: Tyler Ivey (4 - 9)
LP: Caden Dana (5 - 8)
SV: Jose Fleury (1)
Game Summary
Salt Lake went quietly in the first inning as Nelson Rada, Matthew Lugo, and Brandon Drury were each retired on groundouts and lineouts. Caden Dana matched zeros in the bottom half, setting down the Space Cowboys in order with ground balls to the infield.
The Bees threatened in the second when Ben Gamel doubled to right, but three straight strikeouts left him stranded. Sugar Land capitalized in their half as Zack Short reached on an error at first base and scored on Miguel Palma's RBI double to put the Space Cowboys ahead 1-0.
After a quick third for Salt Lake, back-to-back walks to Colin Barber and Edwin Díaz opened the inning and a fielding error by Scott Kingery allowed Barber to score. Díaz later came home on a sacrifice fly from Shay Whitcomb, giving the Space Cowboys a 3-0 advantage.
Salt Lake's best chance to answer early came in the fourth when Drury reached on a hit-by-pitch and Gamel followed with a single, but Denzer Guzman struck out and Drury was caught stealing third to end the inning. In the bottom half, Sugar Land extended the lead to 4-0 as Short was hit by a pitch, stole second, and scored on Collin Price's single to center.
The Bees finally broke through in the fifth as Chad Stevens tripled to right to lead off the inning and later scored on a Zach Humphreys single. Humphreys stole second, moved to third on a flyout, and came home when Rada lined a single into center, trimming the deficit to 4-2. Rada was caught stealing to close the rally, keeping Sugar Land in front.
Caden Dana finished five innings before handing the ball off to the bullpen who threw four scoreless innings. On the other side, Alimber Santa, Jose Fleury, and the Space Cowboys' late relievers combined to strand four Bees runners across the sixth through ninth innings.
In the ninth, Salt Lake brought the tying run to the plate after Gamel worked a leadoff walk, but Guzman grounded into a force out and Stevens struck out before Kingery popped out to end the game.
Game Notes
Salt Lake dropped its second game in a row allowing Sugar Land to secure at least a series split while the Bees were held to two runs for the second straight game moving to 4-43 when scoring three runs or less.
The Bees left five on base and went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position moving them to 8-for-37 (.216) in the series.
Salt Lake collected eight hits for the third consecutive game finishing with eight hits to the Space Cowboys four. Despite the advantage, the Bees fell on Saturday, dropping to 29-14 when tallying more hits than their opponent. It marked just the second time this season Salt Lake has lost when holding a team to four hits or fewer (now 6-2), with both setbacks coming against Sugar Land--the first on May 8 in a 5-1 defeat despite a 5-4 edge in hits.
Chad Stevens hit safely for the fifth straight game and ninth time in the last 10 marking his team-leading 29th multi-hit game of the year going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Stevens ranks 10th in the Pacific Coast League with 107 hits on the year and is one of just six players across Triple-A this season to record at least 105 hits and 17 home runs.
In just his second game back from the injured list, Ben Gamel went 2-for-3 with a walk, recording his third multi-hit performance since joining Salt Lake on June 10. Gamel has hit safely in seven of his 10 games with the Bees, posting a .345 average with eight runs scored, seven RBI, four home runs, and two doubles.
Nelson Rada went 1-for-4 with an RBI, extending his hitting streak to five games and collecting a hit in 11 of his first 12 Triple-A contests. The 19-year-old is batting .444 (8-for-18) in the current series and ranks tied for fifth in the PCL with 17 hits in August. Since debuting on August 3, Rada owns a .378 average with 10 runs scored and seven RBI.
Zach Humphreys carried on his six-game hitting streak going 1-for-3 with an RBI and run scored, plating a run for the fifth time in the last six games. Since July 3, Humphreys is batting .368 (14x38) with five doubles, 10 runs scored and eight RBI with a .989 OPS.
Caden Dana worked five innings on Saturday, allowing four runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out two. It marked his first five-inning start with just one earned run allowed since April 11 against Reno and his fewest walks in a five-inning outing since a walk-free performance against Sugar Land on May 6.
The Salt Lake bullpen posted its second scoreless outing of the series and 24th of the year. Salt Lake's 24 scoreless bullpen outings rank as the fourth most in the Pacific Coast League behind Tacoma (32), Sacramento (30) and Sugar Land (26).
Brady Choban delivered his longest outing since his Triple-A debut on August 3, working 1.1 innings. The right-hander has yet to allow a run through his first five appearances while tabbing at least one strike out in each game and he has gone four straight outings without surrendering a hit.
Up Next
Salt Lake will look to salvage the series split in Sunday's series finale as Shaun Anderson is scheduled to take the mound for the Bees with first pitch slated for 5:35 p.m. MST at Constellation Field.
Pacific Coast League Stories from August 16, 2025
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- Salt Lake Falls in Game Five, 4-2, Despite Holding an 8-4 Hit Advantage - Salt Lake Bees
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- Behind Strong Start from Ivey, Sugar Land Takes Series Lead - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
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