The Sacramento River Cats re-discovered their fire last week as they took five of six against the Oklahoma City Comets at Sutter Health Park. It was the first time the Cats have won five games of a six-game series since May 12-17 at Round Rock.
It all began Tuesday night as right-hander Trent Harris made his first career start, throwing 3.0 scoreless innings and retiring nine of the 10 batters he faced, only allowing a single to Jack Suwinski in the second.
Catcher Adrián Sugastey made his Triple-A debut and homered in his second at-bat in the fourth inning; a 376-foot, solo shot to left field. He was the second River Cat to homer in their Triple-A debut this season, joining Aeverson Arteaga who did so on May 14 at Round Rock.
All three Comets runs came on a Ryan Ward homer in the eighth off Nick Zwack. It was his 11th longball of the season, and fourth in his last six games. The ball traveled 414 feet, his third-longest on the year.
Will Brennan capped off the night with a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth to put the Kitties up 7-3.
Newcomers Parks Harber and Bo Davidson each made their Sutter Health Park debut, with Harber doing 2-for-4 and Davidson going 0-for-5.
Wednesday afternoon the Cats played their final weekday day game of the season and would again score seven, holding the Comets to just one run on the evening, a sac fly from Noah Miller in the second to score James Tibbs III.
Starter Blade Tidwell earned the win, allowing one run on three hits, with four walks and five strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work. Tidwell had fanned 71 batters across 13 starts since May 9, ranking first in all of Triple-A in that span. However, he had also walked 25 batters since June 1, the second-most in the PCL.
Parks Harber, who has quickly become a fan and team favorite, knocked his first Triple-A homer in the first inning, a 405-foot, two-run blast to score Scott Bandura. Parks had 12 home runs with Double-A Richmond before being promoted to Sacramento over the All-Star break, ranking third on the team.
Parks also recorded a two-run single in the sixth, giving him four total RBI on the night. It was the 15th time this season a Sacramento player has recorded four-or-more RBI in a game, and he was the 11th individual River Cat to do so.
Scott Bandura recorded his fourth home run with the Kitties a 400-foot, two-run longball to right field that was 109.9 off the bat. It marked the first time Sacramento has had back-to-back multi-homer games since June 17-18 at Oklahoma City.
Bandura also knocked two singles giving him three total hits on the night. It was the second time in his career he has had four-straight multi-hit games, the other time being earlier this season from April 18-23 with the Flying Squirrels.
Ryan Walker and Spencer Bivens combined for 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing three hits with two walks and two strikeouts. All nine Cats recorded a hit.
Thursday, Sacramento won 4-2, putting themselves at .500 for the first time during the second half. It marked the first time they had won four-consecutive games since winning six-straight from June 4-10 vs. Tacoma and at Sugar Land. All nine batters recorded a hit for the ninth time this season, and first time in back-to-back games.
Matt Wilkinson made his first start since July 11 vs. Salt Lake. He allowed two runs on three hits, fanning four batters in 4.0 innings.
Scott Bandura extended his hitting streak with an RBI single in the first, followed by an Osleivis Basabe sac fly.
Zach Ehrhard hit into a double play but scored Ryan Fitzgerald to give the Comets their first run, while rehabber Kiké Hernández knocked his first home run of the season in the fourth to give them their second.
Braxton Roxby earned the win, his fourth on the year, throwing 3.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and Carson Seymour, who recently became a full-time reliever, earned his third career save.
Sacramento did not record an extra-base-hit that night, marking the 32nd time in franchise history the Cats have won a game without an extra-base-hit, and first time doing so since September 20, 2024, vs. Sugar Land.
The Cats would see the only chink their armor Friday night as the dropped the game, 2-8, with OKC avoiding the six-game shutout. Cesar Perdomo was the starter and was dealt the loss, his second as a River Cat. He allowed three runs on eight hits, with one walk and four strikeouts across 3.2 innings.
Blake Snell made a start on major league rehab for the Comets, allowing one run on two hits and fanning three batters in 2.2 innings.
The Comets recorded three runs in the first inning off a Hyeseong Kim RBI single and a Matt Gorski two-run double, the first time Sac had been behind all series.
Bandura knocked an RBI single in the third followed by a Dayson Croes RBI double in the fourth to give the Kitties a glimmer of hope, down 2-3, before Matt Gorski and Jack Suwinski hit back-to-back homers in the fifth, scoring another three runs. Gorski batted in four total runners, his first time doing so since August 29, 2024, with the Indianapolis Indians.
Nate Furman exited the game in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch on the elbow.
Oklahoma City capped the game off by scoring two more runs from Griffin Lockwood-Powell’s seventh inning double.
Saturday night, the Cats brought Christmas cheer for “Christmas in July” as they shut out the Comets, 11-0, their sixth shutout victory of the season. It also tied their largest shut out victory, done previously on April 10 vs. Las Vegas.
It was the third and largest shutout victory in franchise history against Oklahoma City.
They scored double-digit runs for the 14th time and first since June 30. They have not lost a game when scoring 10-or-more. It also marked the third and largest shutout victory in franchise history against Oklahoma City.
It was OKC’s first shutout defeat since September 6, 2025. Also was their largest since losing 0-14 vs. Memphis on August 11, 2018.
The River Cats pitching staff gave up just one hit, the seventh time in franchise history allowing one-or-less hits in a nine-inning game, and first time doing so since April 19, 2025, vs. Salt Lake.
Trent Harris made his second career start, pitching 4.0 hitless innings, allowing just one walk and hitting one batsman, both against James Tibbs III, and fanning eight total batters, a new career high. 4.0 innings worked tied his career high, done also on August 9, 2024, with High-A Eugene.
His phenomenal outing secured him the Pitcher of the Week for the Pacific Coast League for the week of July 20-26, announced by Minor League Baseball on Monday morning.
Parks Harber went 3-for-5, his first three-hit game with Sacramento. He swiped home base in a double steal with Basabe in the third inning. It was Sacramento’s first steal of home since Brett Wisely did so on August 4, 2023, and the 17th in franchise history. Also was just the 11th steal of home in the PCL this season.
Eddys Leonard homered in the fifth, his 13th of the season and first with Sac, a 391-foot, two-run shot to center field. It was his fourth-longest of the year.
The Comets sole hit come on a Kiké Hernández single in the sixth off Reiver Sanmartín, who earned his third win of the year, fanning four batters in 3.0 innings.
And if the week wasn’t good enough, the Kitties outdid themselves Sunday afternoon. Southpaw Seth Lonsway made his first start since July 10 vs. Salt Lake. Seth was placed on the inactive list on July 11 and had twin boys, Zachary and Weston, on July 13. Lonsway allowed four runs on four hits, with four walks and three strikeouts in 3.0 innings of work.
Noah Miller knocked an RBI single in the second, followed by a bases-loaded walk from Lonsway. It was the third time in his career he has walked in a batter, with the other two being back-to-back bases-loaded walks in the first inning on July 20, 2025, with Richmond. Kiké Hernández batted in Lockwood-Powell for three total runs in the second.
Ryan Fitzgerald knocked a sac fly in the third, followed by RBI singles from Miller and Hernández in the sixth, putting the Comets up 6-0.
Adrián Sugastey batted in Harber on a sac fly in the sixth, and Harber knocked an RBI single in the seventh, scoring Turner Hill.
At the bottom of the ninth the Cats were down, 2-6, with their final three outs. Parks, who has hit safely in all nine games with Sacramento, doubled to start the inning off. It was his fourth hit on the night, stamping his second four-hit game of the season, and his first time with back-to-back three-hit games since May 22-23, 2025.
Bo Davidson struck out swinging, Eddys Leonard walked, and Will Brennan singled to center field to load the bases with two outs left.
Dayson Croes entered the game as a pinch hitter and was walked on four pitchers by Kyle Hurt, scoring Harber. 3-6.
Next, Thomas Gavello racked up a full count on nine pitches and was hit by a pitch to score Leonard. 4-6.
Nick Robertson entered the game to replace Hurt as Nate Furman, who had not been on the field since being struck in the elbow, stepped up to the plate.
On the first pitch of his at-bat, Furman knocked a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam, giving Sacramento the 8-6 victory.
It was Sacramento’s fourth grand slam of the season, also done by Osleivis Basabe (April 23), Grant McCray (April 29), and Turner Hill (June 17). It was the third walk-off grand slam in franchise history, also done August 26, 2022, and April 11, 2015.
It was Nate third career grand slam, and first since August 27, 2025, with Eugene. Also marked his 100th hit of the season.
Most impressively, it marked the third time since 2005 (research tool era) a Triple-A player has hit a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam on the first pitch of an at-bat. Nate joined Ed Easley who did so June 18, 2013, with the Reno Aces, and Edgar Quintero who did so April 26, 2005, with the Sultanes De Monterry.
The River Cats now sit at 14-13, above .500 for the first time during the second half. They now head to Tacoma to play the Rainiers who are 11-16 in the second half. The Cats will return to Sutter Health Park on August 4 to face the Round Rock Express.