Bees Bullets: Salt Lake Battling Through Dog Days Of Summer

SALT LAKE CITY – Fighting through the dog days of August, the Salt Lake Bees won four of six games against El Paso this week at Smith’s Ballpark.

After dropping the series opener, Salt Lake took three straight from the Chihuahuas before splitting the final two games of the series.

There’s heroes and there’s legends. ⚾️ The legendary cast of The Sandlot is in the house tonight! pic.twitter.com/9pXlMdE6xE

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) August 5, 2023

Despite being five games under .500 since the season’s second half began on June 28, the Bees remain in contention for a postseason spot. Trailing second place Tacoma by five games entering Sunday, Salt Lake will have to get hot if they want to extend the season beyond September 24.

Salt Lake split the season series against El Paso with each team winning four of six games at home.

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Game Four

The Bees celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Sandlot on Friday night, extending their longest winning streak of the second half to three games in a 4-3 victory.

“Baseball was life! And I was good at it…real good.” pic.twitter.com/o7gAvMovUb

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) August 5, 2023

With members of the iconic baseball film in attendance, Jhonathan Diaz (7-0) allowed one run in six innings of work, lowering his team-best ERA to 3.41.

Zach Humphreys’ tenth double of the season gave the Bees their first lead in the second inning. One of the Pacific Coast League’s best hitters of late,  his .385 average entering Sunday’s game is the second best mark in the league for the second half. Humphreys is hitting .306 on the year and has thrown out ten would-be base stealers in 35 attempts while allowing only one passed ball.

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After an Oscar Mercado solo home run in the fifth, Salt Lake answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. A David Fletcher sac-fly scored Brett Phillips. Michael Stefanic followed with an RBI single that scored Trey Cabbage.

With the win, the Bees improved to 13-18 in the season’s second half.

Game Five

El Paso scored three first-inning runs on their way to a 9-7 win that ended a three-game Bees winning streak. Gerardo Reyes (3-3) was saddled with the loss after surrendering three sixth-inning runs.

Catcher Chris Okey gave Salt Lake their only lead of the ball game, capping a five-run fifth inning with his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast to left-center.

¡jonrón @Chris_Okey_! pic.twitter.com/0T9reSfyHM

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) August 6, 2023

The Chihuahuas answered the Bees five-run inning by scoring four in the sixth and two more in the seventh to take a 9-5 lead. Salt Lake added a pair of runs in the ninth but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to 13-19 in the second half.

Game Six

Bees bats exploded for 17 hits on their way to an 11-4 win over the visiting Chihuahuas

In his second game back in Salt Lake after being DFA’d by the Los Angeles Angels last week, Kevin Padlo gave the Bees a 1-0 lead with a double that scored Trey Cabbage from second. Cabbage singled and advanced to second on his 27th stolen base of the year.

After an El Paso solo home run tied the game in the top of the second, the Bees plated four runs in the bottom half of the frame to take a 5-1 lead. Zach Humphreys continued his hot streak with a solo home run. Four batters later, Trey Cabbage scored two with his 18th double of the season.

Another game, another @z_humphreys10 hit! 🔥Humphreys extends his hitting streak to 7 games with a tie-breaking home run! pic.twitter.com/HmI6c6SzIu

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) August 6, 2023

Padlo extended the lead to 6-1 with a no-doubt homer to left in the third, his ninth of the season. He finished with three RBI in a  5-for-5 performance, including four extra-base hits.

.@KevinPadlo sends some fans in the outfield a free ball.🫶 pic.twitter.com/Ue7MHxzC1R

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) August 6, 2023

Jack Lopez’s sixth home run in ten games extended the Bees lead to 11-4 in the eighth.

Hayden Seig (1-0) got the win in his first appearance with the Bees after being promoted from High-A Tri-City earlier in the week. Kolton Ingram collected the final ten outs for his second save of the year.

Up Next

Salt Lake (14-19) heads to Nevada for a six-game series against the Reno Aces (15-17) beginning on Tuesday, August 8. The Bees lost five of six games to Reno in the season’s opening month. This is the first of two trips the Bees will make to Reno this season.

Listen to ‘Voice of the Bees’ Steve Klauke on KSL Sports Zone. All Salt Lake Bees games are featured on the KSL Sports app. Purchase tickets to see the Bees play at slbees.com.

KSL Sports coverage of  the Salt Lake Bees can be found here

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