The River Cats did not waste away on Margaritaville Night tonight at Sutter Health Park.
Spencer Bivens made his seventh start of the season and first since May 29 at Reno. He allowed a single to Pablo Reyes in the first, who extended his hitting streak to 16-straight games, but escaped without a run.
The Bees struck first as they’ve done every game this series.
Cade Marlowe singled to lead off the fourth, and Niko Kavadas reached on a fielder’s choice as Marlowe advanced to third on a throwing error by Thomas Gavello.
Tonight marked Gavello’s second appearance as catcher for Sacramento, his first being Thursday night. Prior to that, he had not played catcher since July 2024 with High-A Eugene.
Jeimer Candelario then knocked a 109.1mph RBI single to score Marlowe.
After striking out Omar Yolmer Sánchez, Bivens walked Omar Martinez to load the bases, but struck out Ben Gobbel to escape without another run.
The River Cats took the run right back on a 405-foot, leadoff homer from Scott Bandura, his 12th of the season and ninth with Sacramento. It was 107.7 off the bat, ranking in MLB’s 95th percentile. 405 was his third-longest recorded dinger of the season, with his longest being 414 feet on August 12 at Las Vegas.
Brett Harris, who joined the River Cats on September 3 after being claimed off waivers from Boston, knocked a single for his first hit in the Giants organization. A passed ball by Martinez sent Harris to second, allowing Will Brennan to score him on a single.
Diego Velasquez then extended his hitting streak 10-straight with a single. He is now batting .405 (15-for-37) with three doubles, one RBI, five walks, and a .962 OPS in that span since August 26.
Finally, Darren Baker recorded his first RBI as part of the Giants organization with a single to score Brennan before Aeverson Arteaga struck out swinging to end the inning.
R.J. Dabovich entered in place of Bivens, giving Biv a final line of one run on four hits, with one walk and five strikeouts in 4.0 innings of work. Dab sent down the side in order.
The Kitties once again led off the inning with a home run, this time from Gavello who knocked is 355 feet to right field. It was his first since August 12 as Las Vegas, and his eighth on the season.
After a walk to Harris, Bo Davidson followed it up with a 391-foot homer of his own, his ninth with Sacramento, putting them up, 6-1. It marks the third time with the Cats he has knocked a home run in back-to-back games, also doing so on August 12 and 13 at Las Vegas, and August 20 and 21 at Tacoma.
Right-hander Logan Martin entered in the sixth, making his Triple-A debut.
Aeverson Arteaga knocked a single in the sixth, marking a hit for all nine River Cats batter. It was the 11th time all nine starting Kitties have recorded a hit this season, and first time since August 22 vs. Tacoma. They are now 8-3 in such games.
Martin retired the side in the seventh then allowed a pair of walks in the eighth before being replaced by Philip Abner. He had a final line of two runs allowed on no hits, with three walks and two strikeouts in 2.1 innings.
The Bees would score two more on RBI singles from Kavadas and Sanchez in the eighth but that would be it for Salt Lake as Sacramento won 6-3.
R.J. Dabovich earned the win, his first with Sacramento.
Despite their best efforts, Sacramento remains 4.0 games behind first place in the second half standings as Sugar Land defeated Reno, 9-2.