ROUND ROCK, TX. - Homers from Jeimer Candelario and Josh Lowe provided all of Salt Lake’s offense Tuesday, but proved to be not enough. Round Rock staged an eighth-inning rally that completed a 5-4 comeback win and ended the Bees’ five-game win streak.
Round Rock 5, Salt Lake 4
WP: Michel Otañez (4-1)
LP: Brady Choban (1-1)
SV: Emiliano Teodo (2)
Key Performers
Jeimer Candelario: 2-4, R, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
Josh Lowe: 2-5, R, HR, RBI, 2 K
Trey Mancini: 1-2, R, 2 BB, K
Brett Kerry: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
Game Summary
Salt Lake got Wednesday’s contest off to a nice start just outside Texas’ capital city. Jeimer Candelario, activated today off the injured list, picked up right where he stopped as he launched a three-run homer onto the right field berm to give the Bees an early 3-0 lead. The infielder notched his sixth extra base hit of the month and third longball in May.
One inning later, Round Rock cut into the lead with a homer of their own, a solo shot courtesy of Jonah Bride. Salt Lake got the run right back also via the longball, as Josh Lowe went yard for the first time as a Bee and made it 4-1 for the visitors in the third.
On the bump, Brett Kerry was in a groove. The Salt Lake starter made it through four innings, with Bride’s homer as the only blemish.
A pair of two-out errors in the fifth proved costly for the Bees. Round Rock’s hottest hitter, Diego Castillo, drove home two with the bases loaded to get the host within one at 4-3. A walk reloaded the bases, but Kerry responded with his sixth strikeout to keep the lead intact and finish five strong innings.
Once the bullpens took over, they went straight to work. Every reliever recorded at least one strikeout in their individual outing. For the Bees, Samy Natera Jr., was called out of the ‘pen and tallied two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
In the eighth, Salt Lake was searching for insurance. Candelario doubled to start the inning, but was picked off. Two walks advanced to second and third with two down, but were left stranded.
Meanwhile, Round Rock loaded the bases with a leadoff double, hit batter and walk that started the bottom half. Brady Choban seemed to be on his way to working out of the jam, getting a strikeout for out number one. However, Cam Cauley had other plans, shoving a two-run double into right center to give the Express a 5-4 lead. Choban got out of the frame without additional damage, needing the offense to go to work.
Round Rock brought in Emiliano Teodo to close the contest, in which he retired all three Bees he faced to halt the visitors’ winning streak at five games.
Game Notes
- Salt Lake’s winning streak of five games was snapped on Wednesday night after taking a 4-3 lead into the eighth inning marking its first loss in eight tries on the road and moving to 22-2 when leading after seven innings. The Bees moved to 0-2 away from home in one-run contests, while standing at 6-2 in the same statistic at home.
- Salt Lake scored all four of its runs in the first three innings coming on a three-run homer by Jeimer Candelario in the first and a solo shot by Josh Lowe in the third. Salt Lake is now 10-3 on the year when hitting two or more home runs in a game this season while Wednesday was the sixth time this year and first since May 14 vs. El Paso where the Bees were shutout from the fourth inning on. It is just the second loss Salt Lake has suffered on the road when launching two or more homers.
- Infielder Jeimer Candelario was activated today off the injured list, making his first appearance in two weeks (May 13 vs. El Paso). He didn’t waste any time, blasting his fourth homer of the season, and third in the month of May in his first inning at-bat. Candelario picked up his third multi-RBI ledger of the year with his one swing, joining his efforts on May 5 (at Oklahoma City, two RBI) and April 22 (at Las Vegas, three RBI). The New Yorker also doubled in his return, marking his seventh extra base hit of the month.
- Nelson Rada stole second tonight, his first swipe since May 16 vs. El Paso. It is his 13th steal of the season, tied for fourth best in the PCL. He is a perfect 5-for-5 on the basepaths in the month of May.
- Trey Mancini drew two walks today, extending his current on-base streak to 11 games. He has six free passes across that stretch, and has scored at least once in each of his last six games. That is second only to Christian Moore’s team-leading seven-game streak. Mancini singled in the fifth, pushing his active hit streak to seven games, the longest by a Bee currently available.
- Josh Lowe left the yard for the first time as a Salt Lake Bee in the third inning and his sixth total in 2026. The outfielder last tallied a Triple-A home run on May 14, 2025 as a member of the Durham Bulls, where he also notched a solo shot. It was part of a multi-hit day, his second in three games with Salt Lake.
- A fourth-inning single pushed Yolmer Sánchez’s on-base streak to 15 games, currently the team-high. He is batting 19-for-47 (.404) with 12 RBI, four extra-base hits and a 1.086 OPS across that streak, and has hits in 12 of the 15 games. Sánchez later drew his 10th walk of the 15-game span.
- Brett Kerry has thrown at least five innings in each of his last five starts, something he has done 36 times over his 52 career appearances with Salt Lake. The righty also punched out six Express hitters tonight, his third straight start with five or more strikeouts. Kerry has tossed a team-leading 27 innings in May, tied for third most among PCL arms in the month. Wednesday was Kerry’s fourth career start against the Express, lowering his career ERA against Round Rock to 3.33 in 27.0 innings pitched along with six walks and 24 strikeouts.
- Two scoreless innings from Samy Natera Jr., made it two straight appearances without surrendering a run. Among PCL relievers in the month of May with at least 10 innings pitched, the southpaw’s 1.26 ERA ranks second while Natera Jr.,’s 24 strikeouts lead all relievers in the month and sits fourth among all PCL arms in May.
Up Next
Salt Lake will look to begin a new winning streak Thursday, as the six-game series versus Round Rock chugs along from Dell Diamond with first pitch scheduled for 5:45 p.m. MDT.