Bees Battle Back Late, Fall Just Short Against River Cats

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA. - Salt Lake rallied for two runs in the eighth inning, but couldn’t complete the comeback as the Bees fell 6-3 to Sacramento on Saturday night. Yolmer Sánchez and Niko Kavadas each drove in a run during the late push.

Sacramento 6, Salt Lake 3

WP: R.J. Dabovich (1-0)

LP: Joel Hurtado (0-3)

SV: Eric Cerantola (5)

Key Performers

Cade Marlowe: 1-3, 2 R, BB, K

Niko Kavadas: 1-3, RBI, BB, K

Pablo Reyes: 1-3, R, BB

Game Summary

With the score knotted at zero in the fourth, Salt Lake dealt a one out rally, sending Jeimer Candelario to the plate. The veteran knocked in the game’s first run, Cade Marlowe, on a sharp lined single to right field to put the Bees up 1-0 headed to the bottom of the fourth.

The River Cats clawed right back in the bottom half, as Scott Bandura sent his ninth homer of the season over the right-field wall to knot the game at 1-1. A pair of singles brought two more runs across to give the home squad a 3-1 lead in the fourth.

The home team expanded their lead to 6-1 through five full frames, sparked by a lead-off solo home run from Thomas Gavello to open the bottom of the fifth. Bo Davidson then capitalized on a one-out walk, crushing a two-run shot to drive in a pair and push Sacramento further ahead.

Both sides were stifled through the next two frames. Following a leadoff strikeout to begin the eighth, Salt Lake worked two straight walks. Niko Kavadas came through, driving in Marlowe from third immediately after a pitching change to cut the deficit to 6-2. With an out in between, Yolmer Sánchez made some two-out magic, dribbling a ball past the second baseman to plate Pablo Reyes from third and make it 6-3 Sacramento.

Despite a zero thrown by Najer Victor in the bottom of the eighth and a leadoff hit-by-pitch to begin the top of the ninth, Salt Lake couldn’t muster any Saturday night magic as the Bees fell in the penultimate game of the set.

Game Notes

• The Bees lost their third straight Saturday showdown, falling to 11-15 on the day. They are 3-9 on the road on that day and finished 1-4 against the River Cats this season on Saturday (win came as part of a doubleheader on April 4). Salt Lake also dropped another three-run game, holding a 7-14 record in such games. They have lost four of their last five three-run decisions, with the lone victory coming in this week’s series opener (4-1 W on September 1).

• Salt Lake’s starters have managed six straight appearances of 5.0+ innings, a new season-high. It is the club’s longest since they finished the 2025 season with six straight (September 16-21 at Las Vegas). Hurtado is the only arm to be responsible for more than one of the outings, joining Dana (Sept. 1), Kerry (Sept. 2), Costeiu (Sept. 3) and Aldegheri (Sept. 4) of whom have supplied the efforts.

• The struggles continued for the Bees when they don’t homer. On the year, Salt Lake is 14-29 overall and 4-15 on the road when they don’t send one out of the park; the Bees have lost 10 straight in games without a homer (last win: July 19 vs. Reno). When Salt Lake manages to connect for at least one home run, their overall mark sits at 47-45.

• Right-hander Joel Hurtado lasted five innings in his sixth Triple-A start of the season. The Dominican allowed six runs for the second time in his last three starts while striking out five, one shy of his Triple-A season high of six set on Aug. 25 in Tacoma. Hurtado surrendered seven hits, three of which were home runs, while walking two.

• With two outs in the first, Pablo Reyes bunted for a single in his first at-bat. The infielder extended his career-high hit streak to 16 games with the knock, while also extending his on-base streak to 16 games.

• Ben Gobbel singled to the pull-side to begin the third inning. The Belmont Abbey alum pushed his hit and on-base streaks to six games on the knock.

• Cade Marlowe led off the top of the fourth with a base hit to right field. With that hit, the outfielder has hits in back-to-back contests and in seven of his past eight games. Marlowe scored twice tonight, his first game with multiple runs since August 26 at Tacoma. The Tifton, Ga., native has scored a quad of runs in September.

• With an out in the fourth inning, Niko Kavadas reached base via a fielder’s choice. The first baseman has reached in four straight games. In the sixth inning, Kavadas walked with one out, marking his 48th free pass of the year and the 220th of his Triple-A career. Driving in a run with a one-out single in the eighth, the Notre Dame product collected his 225th career Triple-A RBI. Kavadas has now recorded hits in three consecutive contests while driving in runs in back-to-back games.

• In the fourth inning, Jeimer Candelario delivered an RBI single to right field with one out, bringing home Marlowe to score the first run for the Bees. Candelario extended his hitting streak to four games—leaving him just three games shy of matching his season-high seven-game mark—and has now hit safely in 12 of his past 13 outings.

• To keep the fourth inning going with two outs, Omar Martinez worked a walk. The catcher pushed his on-base to a season-long eight games on the free pass.

• Reliever Alex Faedo blanked the opposition in his one inning of action. The righty has back-to-back scoreless appearances, despite giving up two hits in tonight’s outing. Faedo struck out one, pushing his season total to 15 in his 11th game.

• Yolmer Sánchez pushed across Salt Lake’s third run with a dribbler past the second baseman in the eighth inning. The utilityman extended his on-base streak to 11 games, five shy of tying his season high of 16 games. Sánchez’s knock also set a new season-high hit streak at six straight games. The single was his 105th hit of the season.

• Shaun Anderson took the mound for Salt Lake for the first time since July 31 following his recent Minor League deal, tossing a scoreless inning. It marked the righty’s first shutout frame since July 26 versus Omaha.

• Najer Victor tallied his first scoreless outing since returning from the injured list, tossing the final inning of work with one strikeout. He snapped a three-game streak of allowing at least one earned run (from June 3 to September 1).

Up Next

The Bees end their 12-game road trip with Sunday’s finale inside Sutter Health Park. First pitch is set for 2:05 p.m. MDT from California’s capital city.