WEST SACRAMENTO, CA. - Caden Dana delivered a dominant start while Pablo Reyes provided the power at the plate, helping the Bees jump out early and hold off a late Sacramento rally for a series-opening win on Tuesday night.
Salt Lake 4, Sacramento 1
WP: Caden Dana (4-5)
LP: Darien Smith (0-1)
Key Performers
Pablo Reyes: 2-4, R, HR, 3 RBI
Sebastián Rivero: 2-4, 2B, RBI, K
Caden Dana: W, 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K
Game Summary
The Bees jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the opening frame, using three walks, a single and a timely double to bring two runs across. Raudi Rodriguez opened the game with a walk before coming around to score, while Sebastián Rivero added an RBI double down the left-field line to score Nelson Rada and cap the early offensive surge.
Cade Marlowe dropped a leadoff single down the left-field line to open the second for the Bees. Two straight outs brought Nelson Rada to the plate, where he worked a walk. Pablo Reyes then cashed in with two outs, lining a single up the middle to score Marlowe and extend Salt Lake’s lead to 3-0 heading into the bottom of the second.
Both offenses were held in check until two outs in the top of the seventh. Reyes came through again, launching a solo homer 412 feet to deep left-center field to extend Salt Lake’s lead to 4-0.
Sacramento made it interesting with Will Brennan crushing a leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth and putting another runner on base, but Najer Victor worked his way out of the jam to give Salt Lake the series-opening win.
Game Notes
- Salt Lake held Sacramento to one run on Tuesday night marking the third time in the last 11 games and three consecutive series’ where the Bees pitching staff has allowed just one run in a single contest, Salt Lake is 11-0 this season when giving up one run or fewer and 21-8 when allowing six hits or less.
- Tonight was the fifth time in the last seven games that the Salt Lake starter had tallied at least five innings of work. Three different pitchers are responsible for these long efforts, with Caden Dana (8/26 and tonight), Joel Hurtado (8/25 and 8/30), and Ryan Costeiu (8/28) spinning the efforts. Dana’s two starts are the only ones that have resulted in Bees victories; the team is 14-7 in games that the right hander starts on the bump.
- Salt Lake pitching walked one River Cat on the night marking the 10th time this season the Bees have walked one or fewer in a game and have gone 6-4 when doing so. In turn, the Salt Lake offense walked four times bringing its PCL leading total to 670. Notably, Salt Lake’s 670 walks this season match a franchise record for walks in a single season which was set in 2023.
- The Bees will remember the first night of September, as they collected their 13th series-opening victory in 2026. Tuesday’s win snapped a five-game losing streak in Salt Lake’s first game of September, last claiming victory on September 1, 2019 in a 4-3 win over Reno at Smith’s Ballpark. Prior to tonight, Salt Lake was 3-7 in their last 10 September openers (dating back to 2015).
- Salt Lake snapped their four-game losing skid into tonight’s three-run victory. The Bees are now 7-13 overall and 6-7 on the road in three-run games this season. Salt Lake is 13-11 overall and 5-7 away from home in series opening games this season.
- Clean defense has been the name of the game recently for Salt Lake. They have committed zero errors in seven straight games (231 total chances). It is the longest streak in professional baseball (ironically, the Angels hold the MLB’s current streak at six games). The current stretch represents the Bees’ longest streak of the season and best since a nine-game stretch between August 17-26, 2022.
- Salt Lake enjoyed first-inning success at Sacramento, scoring twice and walking twice tonight. It marks consecutive games with multiple scores and walks in the first inning at Sutter Health Park (five runs and walks on Sunday, July 12). This season, the Bees have scored 16 times and walked 15 times in the first inning off River Cats arms, representing Salt Lake’s most against any club in 2026.
- Caden Dana turned in one of his best starts against the River Cats in his career, tying a season high with eight strikeouts in his 21st start of the season. The right-hander spun five scoreless innings while allowing four hits, matching his season high in strikeouts for the second time and recording his most since June 5 against Albuquerque. Dana has now gone five innings in back-to-back appearances, with the eight punchouts bringing his season total to 80.
- To leadoff the game, Raudi Rodriguez worked his 15th walk of his Triple-A season. The Dominican Republic native has reached base safely and has at least one walk in three straight games. Rodriguez came around to score on a Pablo Reyes groundout, making it three straight games he’s touched home.
- Nelson Rada lined a single to the pull side in his first at-bat in the first inning. The outfielder has reached base in five straight games and has hits in consecutive contests. Rada would go on to steal his 35th base of the year which puts him in a tie with Round Rock’s Cam Cauley for the PCL lead. It also puts Rada tied for the fifth most in a season among Bees all-time.
- Niko Kavadas worked a 10-pitch walk to begin his night in the first inning. The first baseman has reached base in consecutive games, as the walk was his first since Aug. 22 against Reno.
- In the opening frame with one down, catcher Sebastián Rivero drove in the runner from second base with a double down the left-field line. Rivero has now recorded at least one hit, an extra-base hit, and an RBI in two of his previous three outings, marking his first double since an April 9 matchup in Reno. The catcher singled in the fifth inning to give him his second multi-hit effort in his past three games.
- Cade Marlowe singled to left in his first at-bat to extend his hit streak to five games. He has reached safely in 11 straight contests, four shy of his season-high 15 game streak.
- Salt Lake delivered with two outs in the second when Pablo Reyes drove a 2-2 sweeper up the middle to bring Marlowe home. With the single, the veteran pushed his on-base streak to 12 games and extended his hitting streak to a new career-best of 12 games. In the seventh inning, Reyes crushed his 10th home run of the campaign, clearing the fence for a two-out solo shot that pushed Salt Lake’s advantage to 4-0. It marked Reyes’ first long ball since he launched a pair of homers on July 17 versus Reno. Reyes’ round-tripper is also his first in September since Sept. 24, 2024 with AAA Syracuse. The Dominican has consecutive multi-hit efforts and four over his last five games.
- Yolmer Sánchez stole his 16th base of the season in the third inning, tying his career high at the Triple-A level. The veteran reached on a one-out walk before swiping second, matching the 16-steal marks he set in 2013 and 2014 with Charlotte. The walk was also his 52nd of the season and extended his on-base streak to seven games. Opening the sixth inning, Sánchez doubled for his 26th of the year—giving him his first multi-hit performance since Aug. 26 at Tacoma.
- Opening the fourth inning with a pull-side single, infielder Ben Gobbel extended both his hitting and on-base streaks to three consecutive games. He now stands just two hits shy of reaching 355 base hits in his Minor League career.
- Alex Faedo bounced back with his fourth scoreless appearance in his last five games. The righty dealt two innings while allowing no hits or runs and striking out one. Faedo has at least one strikeout in nine of his 10 outings this season.
- Leonard Garcia posted one scoreless inning of work, moving his shutout streak to 2.2 innings (last three appearances). He has four strikeouts over that span, adding one tonight. Garcia did not walk a batter tonight, his first walk-free outing since his Triple-A debut on August 4 vs. Oklahoma City.
- Najer Victor closed out the victory, looking more like himself on Tuesday. He tallied one inning in relief, allowed two hits, one run (a solo homer), and struck out one. Tonight was Victor’s second outing since returning from injury and his longest since going one inning on June 3 vs. Albuquerque.
Up Next
The Bees are back to work in Game 2 of their final six-game set of the season in West Sacramento. Salt Lake and Sacramento will go head-to-head Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. MDT inside Sutter Health Park.