Sacramento River Cats celebrate a win and Mother’s Day at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento on Sun May 14, 2023 (Photo Credit to Ralph Thompson/River Cats)

By Stephen Ruderman

SACRAMENTO–The River Cats, twice down to their last strike, beat the Salt Lake Bees 4-3 on a walk-off nubber to take five of six in the series, as they have now won nine of their last 11 games.

Sean Hjelle took the mound for the River Cats, and pitched through jams in the first, third and fourth innings, as he pitched four shutout innings in total. Jake Lee started for Salt Lake, and his outing was more smooth sailing, as he pitched five shutout innings, giving up just a pair of hits, a triple and a double to Tyler Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s pursuit of the cycle was the lone drama early in the game, but it was ended by a pair of walks.

Cam Vieaux came in for the Bees in the bottom of the sixth, and pitched his way through a one-out walk, as he got Matt Beaty and Patrick Bailey on back to back strikeouts to end the inning. Vieaux struck out Shane Matheney to start the bottom of the seventh; gave up a single to Clint Coulter; and got Ford Proctor to fly out to center. Bees’ manager, Keith Johnson, then brought in the left hander, Gerardo Reyes, to face Will Wilson. Coulter stole second, and then Wilson hit a two-run home run to left to put the River Cats on the board.

Drew Strotman pitched three shutout innings, following Hjelle, and then the lefty, Chris Wright, came in for Sacramento in the top of the eighth. Wright got Michael Stefanic to pop out to start the inning; walked Jared Walsh; and then struck out Jo Adell for the second out. Trey Cabbage then came up, and hit a towering drive to right for his 10th home run of the year to tie it up. 

The River Cats loaded the bases off Reyes with nobody out in the bottom of the eighth, but Reyes struck out the side to get out of it unscathed.

The game remained tied at 2-2 going to the ninth, as Melvin Adon came in for the River Cats. Jared Oliva beat out a ground ball to short for an infield hit to lead off the inning, and then stole second on a botched hit and run. Zach Humphreys struck out swinging, and then pinch-hitter David Fletcher grounded out to third, which allowed Oliva to advance to third. Michael Stefanic then beat out a roller up the third base line, which knocked in Oliva to give the Bees the lead.

The bees brought in the major league veteran Jonathan Holder in the bottom of the ninth, who gave up a single to Will Wilson on the first pitch of the inning. Michael Gigliotti struck out swinging, and Cal Stevenson flew out to left-center, which left the River Cats down to their last out. Up came Tyler Fitzgerald, who down to his last strike, lined his second double of the game down the left field line, which got Wilson to third. 

The bees elected to intentionally walk Matt Beaty to load the bases, which left it up to Patrick Bailey. Bailey, also down to his last strike, hit a nubber off the end of the bat along the third base line that Bees’ third-baseman, Taylor Jones, booted, and Wilson and Fitzgerald both scored, sending the 6,044 fans at Sutter Health Park home happy.

Through it all, Melvin Adon got the win to improve to 1-1, and Jonathan Holder took the loss to fall to 0-4. The River Cats are now back over .500 at 20-19, as they will head to Reno to face the first-place Aces for a six-game series starting Tuesday.

Today’s game also featured the challenge version of the Automated Balls and Strikes System that Major League Baseball plans to implement next season. Jared Walsh of the Angels, who was here for a rehab assignment, was called out on strikes by home plate umpire, Tanner Moore, and spent close to 10 seconds arguing with Moore instead of requesting a challenge.

Today’s game was also the final one in Sacramento for the 29-year voice of the Bees, Steve Klauke, who is retiring at the end of the season.