Salt Lake Powers Past Las Vegas with 10-4 Win, Take 3-1 Series Lead
PCL Salt Lake Bees

Salt Lake Powers Past Las Vegas with 10-4 Win, Take 3-1 Series Lead

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


SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - The Salt Lake Bees secured at least a series split with the 10-4 win over Las Vegas on Friday night as Niko Kavadas went deep for the second straight game while Chad Stevens recorded his 100th hit of the season.

Salt Lake Bees 10, Las Vegas Aviators 4

WP: Jack Dashwood (2 - 3)

LP: Kade Morris (3 - 6)

Game Summary

Salt Lake picked up right where they left off the night before, scoring three in the first and two in the second. Nelson Rada and Matthew Lugo opened the game with back-to-back singles, setting the table for Denzer Guzman, who drove them both in with a two-out double. Cavan Biggio then added an RBI in his first at-bat as a member of the Bees to put Salt Lake up 3-0 at the end of one.

The Bees bats kept buzzing in the second, as Tucker Flint snapped a 2-for-23 skid against Las Vegas with a leadoff single and came around to score on a 105.5-mph laser off the bat of Matthew Lugo. Chad Stevens kept the rally going, lacing a double down the right-field line to bring Lugo home from second -- marking Stevens' 100th hit of the 2025 season.

Victor Mederos was sharp through his four innings of work, escaping a first-and-third, no-out jam in the opening frame before striking out two in each of the next three innings to keep Las Vegas off the board and preserve the 5-0 lead.

The Bees extended their lead in the sixth inning when a pair of walks put Flint and Nelson Rada on base for Niko Kavadas, who launched a towering 444-foot blast to right field for a three-run homer, stretching Salt Lake's advantage to 8-0.

Las Vegas got on the board for the first time in the seventh inning with a leadoff homer from Junior Perez. They added another run later in the frame on an Alejo Lopez RBI single to center that scored Drew Swift, making it two runs for the inning.

Salt Lake answered right back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning, starting with three straight singles. Sebastian Rivero kicked off the rally with an RBI single down the left-field line. Yolmer Sanchez then added another run on an error by Aviators second baseman Zack Gelof, allowing Biggio to score and giving the Bees their 10th run of the night.

Las Vegas put up a run in each of the final two innings but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Bees wrapped up the night with a 10-4 win to secure at least a series split taking a 3-1 lead in the series.

Game Notes

Salt Lake secured its third straight win, improving to 46-65 on the season. The team has won seven of its last 10 games overall and boasts a 4-1 record over its last five home contests.

Salt Lake scored 10 runs on 14 hits, marking back-to-back games with double-digit runs for the first time since June 22, as well as their 24th such game this season. They also recorded double-digit hits for the third straight game, the first time since July 25-27.

The Bees have homered in six straight games, tying Las Vegas for the second-longest active streak in the PCL, behind Reno, who has gone deep in nine consecutive contests. Salt Lake has tallied 10 home runs during this streak dating back to August 2, marking the fourth-most homers in the league over that span.

Matthew Lugo went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI, extending his hitting streak to five games and scoring in three straight. Over that span, Lugo is batting .375 (9-for-24) with four multi-hit games, including five doubles, five RBIs, four runs scored, and a .958 OPS.

Chad Stevens reached the century mark with his 100th hit of the 2025 season, becoming the 12th player in the Pacific Coast League to achieve the milestone this year. Stevens has now hit safely in four straight games and driven in a run in each of the last two. He is one of only seven players in the league to have recorded at least 100 hits while maintaining a batting average of .285 or higher, along with 55 runs scored and 55 RBIs.

Niko Kavadas went yard for the second straight game, marking his 23rd home run of the season and ranking him second in the PCL behind Alex Freeland of Oklahoma City. Kavadas has now hit back-to-back homers twice this season, most recently in a three-game streak back in June. He drove in three runs for the second consecutive game, his most RBIs over a two-game span since June 15-16, 2024, when he batted in seven runs across two games with Worcester. Kavadas also became the first Bees player to record three RBIs in back-to-back games since Shane Matheny accomplished the feat last September 17-18 against Oklahoma City.

Denzer Guzman continued his hot stretch since joining Salt Lake, recording his fourth multi-hit game in six contests while scoring in five straight and driving in multiple runs for the third consecutive game. Guzman has collected eight RBIs in those six games, tying a team-high for August alongside Niko Kavadas.

Yolmer Sanchez drove in a run for the third consecutive game and reached base once to extend his on-base streak to 17 games, setting a new season high and surpassing his previous mark of 16, set from June 5-29.

Nelson Rada went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, extending both his hitting and scoring streaks to five games as he has hit and scored in every game since his Triple-A debut on August 3. Rada also notched his second straight game with multiple hits and multiple runs, batting .400 (8-for-20) with a 1.078 OPS since joining Salt Lake.

Cavan Biggio made a major impact in his Salt Lake debut on Friday night, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. It marked Biggio's second game with at least three hits in Triple-A this season--the first coming on July 12 with Omaha. He joined Christian Moore as the only two players this season to record three hits in their Salt Lake debut.

Victor Mederos pitched four strong innings, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out six. He tied his Triple-A career-high for strikeouts in a game of four innings or fewer, matching the six punchouts he recorded against Oklahoma City on September 20, when he threw 3.1 innings. Over his last five starts dating back to July 11, Mederos has not allowed more than two runs in 26 innings and leads the league with a 1.73 ERA among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched.

Up Next

Salt Lake will look to secure the series win on Saturday night against Las Vegas on Star Wars Night at The Ballpark at America First Square with a postgame Drone Show to follow 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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