Three wins were the result for both the Salt Lake Bees and Albuquerque Isotopes this week in New Mexico, as the squad began the Pacific Coast League’s second half with a split. It is the seventh split this season for the Bees, who haven’t dropped a six-game series since a rain-shortened set early May in Oklahoma City. Salt Lake (3-3) looks to continue their home prowess as they return home for Independence Day celebrations against Las Vegas.
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Series recap
Albuquerque started the second half right, taking Tuesday’s series opener 11-3. The Bees countered on Wednesday with a collective 9-1 win, helmed by Alek Manoah’s strong five inning start, his best as a Bee.
Omar Martinez’s ninth-inning solo shot on Thursday avoided a shutout as the Isotopes took the matinee showdown 8-1. A five-run seventh broke a scoreless stalemate on Friday and paced the Bees to a 6-0 win to even the series. Three Salt Lake arms (Caden Dana, Houston Harding and Jared Southard) combined for a three-hitter and the team’s third shutout performance of the season.
It took extras, but the Bees erased a five-run deficit on Saturday to at least secure a series split, winning 8-7 in 10 innings. Finally, the hosts clobbered five homers in Sunday’s finale, and despite a late Salt Lake charge, took home an 11-5 victory to end the series with three wins each.
Prospect watch
With a depleted Bees roster missing several of its top prospects, the offense was led by the Los Angeles Angels’ top position prospect and No. 2 overall prospect, Nelson Rada. The 20-year-old continued his outstanding June, batting 8-for-20 (.400) with two doubles, five walks, five runs scored, two RBIs and three stolen bases against the Isotopes.
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Rada extended his on-base streak to five games with a walk in the series finale before swiping two bases, bringing his season total to 25, the most on the team and third-most in the PCL. Since making his Triple-A debut last August, his 45 stolen bases are the most by any PCL player and trail only Scranton/Wilkes-Barre’s Duke Ellis (53) across all of Triple-A. Rada later added an opposite-field single to extend his hitting streak to five games and scored for the third straight contest. He reached 25 stolen bases in just 69 games this season, surpassing Jordyn Adams (71 games) as the fastest Bee in franchise history to reach the mark. Rada is slashing .363/.464/.400 with 20 runs scored in the month of June.
The Angels’ third-ranked pitching prospect and fourth-ranked overall, George Klassen, turned in his second straight outing of at least six innings, tossing 6.1 frames in Thursday’s 8-1 loss. Despite delivering the longest start by a Bees pitcher in the series, he was tagged with the tough-luck loss after allowing three earned runs on six hits while striking out three. The right-hander battled his command at times, issuing four walks to bring his season total to 35. Even so, Klassen continued his strong June, posting a 2.66 ERA while holding opponents to a .244 batting average across the month.
Around the bases
Wednesday sees the weekly appearance of the Utah Dirty Sodas before the Bees get into the patriotic spirit. Salt Lake is one of 60 Minor League clubs that have the distinct privilege of hosting games on July 4 this season, doing so for the fifth straight season. Weather permitting, the sky will light up on consecutive nights with a postgame fireworks display on Friday and Saturday evenings. Sunday’s Breakfast for Dinner closes out the Stars and Stripes weekend as the season inches closer to the All-Star Break.
What’s on deck
Salt Lake welcomes the Las Vegas Aviators (Triple-A, Athletics) to the Beehive State for the first time this season and the first home set of the second half. Six games are on deck against the first half champion Aviators with the series opener scheduled for Tuesday, June 30 at 6:35 p.m. from The Ballpark at America First Square.
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