WEST SACRAMENTO, CA. - Salt Lake found themselves on the wrong side of a low-scoring affair Thursday evening and fell for the fourth straight time in a 5-3 defeat to Sacramento. Kyren Paris homered and recorded a multi-hit effort for the second straight night but was the only Bee to do either inside Sutter Health Park.
Sacramento 5, Salt Lake 3
WP: Blade Tidwell (1-3)
LP: Brett Kerry (3-6)
SV: Carson Seymour (1)
Key Performers
Kyren Paris: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Omar Martinez: 1-4, 2B, R, 3 K
Ben Gobbel: 1-4, R
Yolmer Sanchez: 1-3, 2B, 2 K
Game Summary
The offenses needed an inning to get going in Thursday’s contest. Salt Lake scored first for the third straight night. Three straight hits started the second inning and culminated with Kyren Paris’ RBI infield single. A wild pitch with two outs brought home the second Bees run of the frame for a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom half, Sacramento cut the deficit in half with a Turner Hill solo shot to right. One inning later, the River Cats knotted the score at 2-2 with a two-out RBI single. A leadoff walk came back to hurt starter Brett Kerry as that free pass was the tying run.
Kyren Paris regained the Salt Lake lead in the fourth inning on his fourth homer of the year. It was his second straight night sending a ball over the outfield wall in Sacramento, both being solo blasts. The advantage changed hands once again, as the hosts posted two runs in the bottom half to go in front 4-3.
Zeros in the fifth and sixth innings allowed both Kerry and Sacramento’s Blade Tidwell to each record quality starts. They gave way to the bullpens as the game moved to the later stages.
Sacramento added insurance in the eighth thanks to a safety squeeze on a bunt to increase their advantage to 5-3. The Bees brought the tying run to the dish, thanks to Bryce Teodosio’s two-out walk. However, the River Cats only needed one more pitch to finish the ballgame and hand Salt Lake a fourth straight defeat.
Game Notes
- Salt Lake now has lost four straight games for the first time since April 24-29 when they held a five-game losing streak. They fell below .500 for the first time since May 30 when they were 27-28. With tonight’s loss, the Bees are now 5-10 in the second half and sit in last place across the first 15 games of the PCL second half.
- Thursdays on the road have not been kind to the Bees, as they are now 1-6 in that category, with the only victory coming on April 23 at Las Vegas (W, 5-3). In total, Salt Lake is 4-9 in 13 total games on the day of the week. The four victories are tied with Mondays in 2018 (4-13) and Wednesday in 2019 (4-13) for the fewest number of wins on one day of the week in a single season among Bees franchise history, since 2005 (min. 5 games on the day of week).
- Salt Lake has scored first in each of the first three games, however, they have not plated a run past the fifth inning in any of the contests. They are 20-17 when scoring first this season and move to 4-16 when scoring three runs or less.
- The Bees lost just their third game of the year when the margin was two runs, holding a 8-3 overall record (6-2 on the road) in such games. The only other road loss came on June 9 at Reno when Salt Lake dropped a 9-7 decision; additionally, the Bees have lost their last two games with margins of two runs (July 3 vs. Las Vegas, 11-9 and tonight).
- Salt Lake got another quality start this week, courtesy of Brett Kerry. It is the 11th on the season and just the second time the Bees have recorded multiple quality starts in the same series this year (Kerry, May 21 vs. Tacoma; Sam Aldegheri, May 22 vs. Tacoma). However, just as they did on Tuesday night, Salt Lake has yet to win a road game with a quality start, dropping to 0-4 in that category (6-5 overall in 2026).
- After going 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday, the Bees struggled again in scoring situations tonight going 1-for-7 and left six on base. Since the start of the series, Salt Lake is 4-for-22 (.182) with runners in scoring position with six of the nine RBI this week coming in scoring situations.
- Brett Kerry tallied his second quality start tonight (May 21 vs. Tacoma) and the second by a Bees starter this week (George Klassen on Tuesday). Kerry fired six innings, allowed three earned runs, walked two and struck out four in his outing tonight. It is the 14th quality start in his Triple-A career and the 31st across his professional career. Kerry continued his all-time success on Thursdays, as both quality starts this season have been tallied on that day of the week. Across the Triple-A level, the South Carolinian is 5-3 with a 4.20 ERA, his best ERA of any day of the week.
- Following a day off, Ben Gobbel got straight back to work. He has reached in all 25 games as a Bee in 2026, courtesy of a leadoff single that began the second. Gobbel also increased his on-base streak to 30 total games, dating back to May 30. The single moved Gobbel’s hit streak to 15 games, the longest by a Salt Lake hitter this season (surpassed Trey Mancini’s 14-gamer between May 20-June 5). Additionally, Gobbel’s current hit streak is the longest active stretch in Triple-A and second longest across all of Minor League Baseball. He came home for the game’s first run and has scored in seven of his last eight games.
- Omar Martinez doubled in the productive second inning, collecting his fifth two-bagger of the campaign. It is the catcher’s first extra-base hit of July and first since a two-double night on June 30 vs. Las Vegas.
- Kyren Paris extended his hit streak and RBI streak with a run-scoring single that opened the scoring on Thursday. The infielder now holds a four-game hit streak, while he has driven home five total RBI across three straight games. Paris homered in his second straight game, leaving the yard in right tonight with a solo shot. It is the first time the Oakley, Calif., native has consecutive games with a longball since he had a three-game streak between April 4-6, 2025 with the Angels (four total over that streak). Paris also confirmed back-to-back multi-hit efforts and now has three in his last four games. For the second straight night, Paris was responsible for the Bees’ lone multi-hit ledger.
- After being signed by the Angels yesterday, Pablo Reyes made his debut with the Bees tonight. The former El Paso Chihuahua beat out an infield single in the third to notch his first knock in the black and gold. He also drew a walk for his 36th free pass of the season, all at Triple-A. Reyes’ last game at Triple-A came on June 30 against the same River Cats he faced tonight.
- Recording his team-leading 18th double of the season tonight was Yolmer Sánchez. The experienced veteran has three extra-base hits in the month of July, all of which are two-base knocks.
- Nelson Rada singled to start the eighth, marking consecutive nights with a hit. He has hits in four of his last five games. Rada stole second on that same trip on the basepaths for his 28th swipe of the season and is one shy of his 200th career stolen base.
- Bryce Teodosio walked in back-to-back games and now holds a three-game on-base streak. Three of the outfielder’s 12 free passes at Triple-A this season have come in the first eight games of July.
Up Next
Salt Lake will look to snap their four-game skid on Friday night inside Sutter Health Park. First pitch from River City is set for 7:45 p.m. MDT.