Salt Lake Hits Five Homers, Overcomes Six-Run Deficit to Win 15-12 Slugfest
PCL Salt Lake Bees

Salt Lake Hits Five Homers, Overcomes Six-Run Deficit to Win 15-12 Slugfest

August 8, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - The Salt Lake Bees rallied from a six-run deficit to secure a 15-12 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators, scoring in every inning and blasting five home runs, two of which came from Scott Kingery.

Salt Lake Bees 15, Las Vegas Aviators 12

WP: José Quijada (1 - 0)

LP: Anthony Maldonado (1 - 4)

SV: Chase Silseth (1)

Game Summary

It was all offense from the jump, with the two teams combining for 11 runs, 11 hits, and five home runs through just four innings.

Salt Lake struck first when Niko Kavadas launched a two-run homer to right off the first pitch he saw from Aviators starter Aaron Brooks. Las Vegas quickly answered with a pair of solo shots from Shane McGuire and Junior Perez in the second to tie it at 2-2.

The home run barrage continued in the third as Scott Kingery put Salt Lake back in front with a solo shot to right-center but the Aviators responded in the bottom half, pulling ahead 4-3 on Zack Gelof's RBI double down the left-field line.

Nelson Rada opened the fourth for Salt Lake with his first career Triple-A home run on a 105.4 MPH blast to right to tie the game at 4-4 as all three Bees hits through three innings came via the long ball.

Las Vegas broke the tie in the top of the fourth with a three-run frame, sparked by Henry Bolte's leadoff infield single. Bolte came around to score on a groundout by Euribiel Angeles after Junior Perez doubled to right-center. Drew Swift followed with an RBI single, and Alejo Lopez added another run on a fielder's choice to give the Aviators a 6-4 lead.

Salt Lake answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, as Denzer Guzman doubled and later scored on Kingery's RBI groundout.

The Aviators blew it open in the top of the fifth after loading the bases with two outs. Drew Swift's infield single kept the inning alive for Nick Martini, who crushed a grand slam off the first pitch from reliever Sammy Peralta marking the game's sixth home run to extend the Aviators lead to 11-5.

Salt Lake chipped away by mounting a strong rally in the bottom of the fifth, trimming the deficit to two by scoring four runs on five hits while sending nine batters to the plate. The Bees put together four consecutive one-out singles, capped by Yolmer Sanchez's two-run double to right-center that brought home the last two runs of the inning and cut the Aviators lead to 11-9.

Las Vegas responded with a run in the top of the sixth, but that would be the Aviators final run of the night. Salt Lake answered back with two runs in each of the next three innings, highlighted by Nelson Rada's go-ahead two-run double down the right-field line in the seventh to erase a six-run deficit and give the Bees a 13-12 lead.

Brady Choban kept Las Vegas off the board in the eighth inning, retiring the side on just five pitches. Meanwhile, Salt Lake capped off their big night with two more homers in the eighth. Denzer Guzman finished a four-hit game with a long ball, followed by Scott Kingery, who launched his second homer of the game.

Chase Silseth closed out the game for Salt Lake, striking out two in order to secure a thrilling 15-12 victory at The Ballpark at America First Square.

Game Notes

Salt Lake captured a thrilling 15-12 victory on Thursday to take a 2-1 lead in the series over Las Vegas tying a season-high of 15 runs while tying their third highest hit total of 16.

Salt Lake scored a run in every inning to help erase a six-run deficit marking its largest comeback win of the season surpassing the deficit of down five against Omaha on May 24 while winning just their fifth game when trailing after six innings (5-51).

For the third time this season, the Bees hit five home runs in a game, matching their season high from June 24 in Reno and June 22 against Sacramento. They are 37-38 when hitting at least one home run, 18-21 with multiple homers, 7-3 with three or more, 3-2 with four or more, and 2-1 in five-homer games. The game featured a combined total of eight home runs, making it the second-highest combined home run count this season, just behind the nine that were hit on June 15 in Las Vegas

Thursday marked the fifth time this season Salt Lake has had three players tally at least three hits with Denzer Guzman (4), Scott Kingery (3) and Nelson Rada (3) doing so. Niko Kavadas, Rada, Guzman and Kingery all tabbed three-RBI games making it the first time Salt Lake has had four players with three RBIs in the same game since August 23, 2011.

Denzer Guzman delivered a standout performance at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a home run, three RBI and three runs scored while extending his hitting and scoring streak to four consecutive contests. He's posted back-to-back games with multiple hits, multiple RBIs, and a homer, batting .450 (9-for-20) with two home runs, two doubles, six RBIs, six runs scored, and a 1.350 OPS in five games since joining Salt Lake. Thursday marked the third four-hit game of his professional career and his second this season where he went 4-for-4 with Rocket City on April 25.

Scott Kingery broke out of an 0-for-15 slump in a big way Thursday, going 3-for-4 with two home runs, three RBIs, and three runs scored. It was his first multi-homer game since July 31, 2024, after recording six such games last season with Lehigh Valley. Thursday also marked his third game this year with three RBIs and a new season high with three runs scored. It was his fifth game of the season with at least three hits--his most since going 4-for-6 against Omaha on May 24--and he became the sixth Salt Lake player this year to record a multi-homer game.

Nelson Rada recorded his sixth three-hit game of the 2025 season and his first with Salt Lake. He has safely reached base and scored in all four games with the Bees, including his second three-RBI game since his Triple-A debut on August 3. Rada also hit his first career Triple-A home run and added his first double, becoming the first 19-year-old to homer in a Triple-A game since Jackson Holiday in 2023.

Niko Kavadas hit his 22nd home run of the season and ranks second in the Pacific Coast League behind Oklahoma City's Ryan Ward with 28. He recorded his eighth game with at least three RBIs, setting a new Triple-A career high with 69 on the year. Kavadas also tied his season high with three runs scored--his most since May 23 against Omaha and drew his 73rd walk of the season, second in the league behind Alex Freeland.

Chase Silseth recorded his first professional save by pitching a hitless ninth inning. Since returning from the injured list, he has appeared in five relief outings, allowing no runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and no walks over five innings pitched.

Up Next

Salt Lake and Las Vegas will meet for game four of the series on Friday night at The Ballpark at America First Square with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. MST.

Check out the Salt Lake Bees Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 8, 2025


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