Vegas Strikes Gold in Fifth, Grounds Bees 8-4
PCL Salt Lake Bees

Vegas Strikes Gold in Fifth, Grounds Bees 8-4

August 6, 2025 - Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release


SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - The Salt Lake dropped the series opener to the Las Vegas Aviators 8-4 after a five-run outburst in the fifth inning as the Aviators tacked on three home runs to pull away from Salt Lake on Tuesday night.

Las Vegas Aviators 8, Salt Lake Bees 4

WP: David Leal (1 - 1)

LP: Caden Dana (4 - 7)

Game Summary

Both teams put runners on base in the opening frame but failed to capitalize as the Aviators got back-to-back singles from Nick Martini and Alejo Lopez in the top of the first, but Bees starter Caden Dana recovered to strike out Zack Gelof and Brett Harris, then induced a flyout from Daniel Susac.

In the bottom half, Salt Lake loaded the bases on three walks and a pair of stolen bases from Nelson Rada, but Las Vegas starter Ken Waldichuk escaped unscathed with three strikeouts.

Junior Perez got the Aviators on the board in the second with a solo shot to center while Henry Bolte matched him two innings later, blasting a 1-0 pitch to right-center to make it 2-0 Las Vegas.

Salt Lake responded in the bottom of the third, as Brandon Drury launched a solo homer to left. Later in the inning, Yolmer Sánchez added an RBI single to plate Denzer Guzman and put the Bees ahead 2-1.

Tied 2-2 heading into the fifth, Las Vegas broke the game open with a five-run outburst. After a pair of walks, Zack Gelof crushed a three-run homer to left for the biggest blow of the inning with any outs yet to be recorded. After a pitching change, the Aviators added three straight singles for six consecutive baserunners to start the inning and scored two more on a two-out RBI single from Euribiel Angeles to come away with a 7-2 lead.

Zack Gelof doubled to start the eighth inning, adding the Aviators fifth leadoff base runner of the night. With two outs, Henry Bolte collected his third hit of the night driving in Gelof with a shallow single to stretch the lead to 8-2.

Salt Lake showed signs of life in the bottom of the eighth with four hits including Matthew Lugo slashing his second double of the game to bring in two runs, scoring Chad Wallach and Nelson Rada, trimming the deficit to 8-4. But reliever Hogan Harris clamped down, striking out back-to-back hitters to end the threat and strand runners on the corners.

Chase Silseth cruised through the top of the ninth needing just 11 pitches to sit the Aviators down in order and hold the deficit at four. In Salt Lake's final at-bat Yolmer Sanchez was the only one to reach after an error by Las Vegas Angeles before a pair of groundouts closed things down for an 8-4 Las Vegas victory.

Game Notes

Salt Lake dropped its second in a row moving to 43-65 on the year and 14-20 in the second half. The five-run threat in the fifth inning piled on to the Bees' worst frame where they have allowed an inning-high of 122 total runs this season.

The Bees drop to 0-7 against Las Vegas in 2025 and carry an 10-game losing streak to the Aviators going back into last season. Las Vegas has tallied double-digit hits and home runs in five of the seven games against Salt Lake this year while homering in each contest for a total of 18.

Salt Lake left a total of 14 runners on-base making it the second most this season and its highest since April 27 against Oklahoma City while its season-high mark of 16 came against Reno on April 9.

Matthew Lugo shined once again with his second straight game with two hits and a pair of doubles becoming the first Bees player to have at least two doubles in back-to-back games since David Fletcher on May 10-11, 2018 against Sacramento. Lugo also drove in two runs to give him his 14th multi-RBI game of the year tying Chad Stevens for the second most on the team.

Brandon Drury hit safely for the third straight and six times over his last seven while only going hitless in two of the 11 games he has played for Salt Lake. Drury went 2-for-3 and reached base four times in five plate appearances with two walks to his line as he added his first home run in a Salt Lake uniform and his second of the 2025 campaign.

Yolmer Sanchez extended his on-base streak to 15 games coming one away from matching his season-high of 16 set through June 5-29. Sanchez went 1-for-4 with a run batted in, hitting safely for the fifth consecutive game while taking a walk in six of his last seven games.

The young duo of Nelson Rada and Denzer Guzman each tallied a hit and run scored for the second game in a row in what was Rada's second Triple-A game and Guzman's third. Rada picked up two stolen bases which came in the same inning extending the teams stolen base streak to nine in a row setting a new season-best streak surpassing its previous total of eight set from June 24-July 2.

Caden Dana worked four innings, his longest outing since June 5 (5.1 IP vs. Round Rock). He allowed five runs on six hits, with all five runs coming via the long ball--including a three-run homer in the fifth inning. The three home runs allowed marked a season high for Dana. He struck out five for the second consecutive start and now holds a 4-7 record on the season.

Up Next

Salt Lake and Las Vegas will match up for game two on Wednesday night as Shaun Anderson (2-7, 6.60 ERA) and Joey Estes (3-3, 5.81 ERA) face off on the mound at The Ballpark at America First Square for a 7:05 p.m. MST first pitch.

Check out the Salt Lake Bees Statistics



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 6, 2025


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