Bees Bullets: Salt Lake Splits Twin Bill, Win Season-Opening Series

Apr 2, 2023, 4:04 PM

KSL Sports

SALT LAKE CITY – Jordyn Adams hit his first home run in a Bees uniform on his way to a four-RBI day as the Salt Lake Bees opened 2023 with a series victory.

The Bees improved to 2-1 on the season with an 8-3 win over the Sacramento River Cats on Sunday afternoon.

.@KRosenberg22 was carving today. Check out the K Strut @PitchingNinja pic.twitter.com/lrc8KvqgGd

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 2, 2023

The Bees had the lowest ERA in the Pacific Coast League last season. If the opening weekend performances from Chase Silseth and Kenny Rosenberg are any indication, they could have a top of the league staff once again. The pair of starting pitchers each threw five shutout innings while striking out six and walking one in Bees victories.

Game One

Chad Wallach drove in both Bees runs as Salt Lake shut out the River Cats for a 2-0 victory in game one of a Saturday afternoon doubleheader.

First Game: ✔️
First W: ✔️ pic.twitter.com/GQcsUX7ZRf

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 1, 2023

Wallach’s homer came off of River Cats starter Tristan Beck in the third inning. Salt Lake’s catcher turned on an inside pitch, keeping it fair long enough to carom off the left field fair pole to give the Bees a 1-0 advantage.

Wallach drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth that scored Kevin Padlo from third.

Making his first professional Opening Day start, Bees pitcher Chase Silseth (1-0) allowed two hits while striking out six and walking one in five innings. Jacob Webb pitched a scoreless sixth with Justin Garza throwing a clean seventh inning for his first save. Beck took the loss for Sacramento.

Game Two

The River Cats took an early lead and never looked back, splitting the doubleheader with a 7-4 game two win.

Sacramento struck first, plating two runs on a Ricardo Genoves second-inning single.

In the fourth inning, Kalish loaded the bases with nobody out before giving way to Aaron Hernandez. Hernandez gave up a sac fly and a run-scoring single as Sacramento took a 4-0 lead.

Salt Lake cut the lead in half with RBI’s from Mickey Moniak and DH Trey Cabbage in the bottom half of the inning. In the fifth, Jo Adell’s double scored catcher Anthony Mulrine and got the Bees within a run, 4-3.

A Triple for @MickeyMoniak 🙌 pic.twitter.com/DfVgn2c7Sx

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 1, 2023

Sacramento scored two more in the sixth with César Valdez surrendering three hits in the inning. In the bottom half, Michael Stefanic made it 6-4 with an RBI single that scored Kevin Padlo.

Raise your hand if you missed having defensive highlights on your timeline.
🙋‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/z2rkaVdDfB

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 1, 2023

Sacramento picked up the split, taking game two 7-4. Jake Kalish (0-1) took the loss with Sam Long (1-0) getting the victory. Cole Waites finished the seventh inning for the save.

Game Three

The Bees took a 6-0 lead before Sacramento could get to Salt Lake pitchers with three late runs. Jo Adell goes 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI while Jordyn Adams hit his first home run in a Bees uniform, finishing with four RBI in the 8-3 win.

Adams started the scoring with his first Triple-A RBI on a second-inning sac-fly that scored Kevin Padlo from third.

Salt Lake added three more runs in the third inning. Adell scored Andrew Velazquez with a hustle double after getting a 3-0 green light from manager Keith Johnson. After a Padlo groundout scored a run, Adams lifted his second sac-fly of the afternoon to right, scoring Adell from third. The Bees held a 4-0 lead after three innings.

Jo Adell gets the green light on 3-0 to start a 3-run 3rd inning rally🚦 pic.twitter.com/0nXhgHRhw2

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 2, 2023

In the sixth, back-to-back hits from Livan Soto and Adell allowed the Bees to tack on a pair of insurance runs for a 6-0 lead.

After the River Cats got a run back, Adams answered with his first Triple-A hit, a two-run homer that just cleared the fence in right to give Salt Lake an 8-1 lead.

First Triple-A Hit✔️
First Triple-A Homer✔️

Welcome to Salt Lake @jordynadams10 pic.twitter.com/vK3FZM3Knm

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 2, 2023

Kenny Rosenberg (1-0) went five scoreless innings, striking out six and walking only one to get the win. Trevor Hildenberger took the loss for Sacramento.

Bees & Baseball Miscellany

In his second season with the Bees, Wallach launched Salt Lake’s first home run of the year. It was his tenth home run as a Bee after hitting nine last season.

The first run of the year is a Chad Wallach Home Run!👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/j0ohERSDIR

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) April 1, 2023

Former Bee, current Los Angeles Angel Hunter Renfroe didn’t make the textbook play, going no-look to make this Opening Night catch.

Hunter Renfroe, No Look Catch. 🫣

When you impress Shohei, you’ve done something. pic.twitter.com/7JH3oO2yAO

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 31, 2023

After blowing a lead on Opening Day, the Angels offense busted out on Saturday. An 11-run third inning propelled the Halos to their first win of 2023, 13-1.

give ‘em room, the boys are cooking!!! 🍳 pic.twitter.com/VjOTwe3XF4

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 1, 2023

BACK TO BACK. Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit their first dingers of the season on Sunday afternoon

drove that one like he’s lightning mcqueen 🚗 pic.twitter.com/4HkoJFEDlX

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 2, 2023

With two runners on, Logan O’Hoppe delivers his first big league home run beyond the coliseum fence.

O’HOPPE DAY ☀️@logan_ohoppe gets his first home run of his Major League career! pic.twitter.com/SnSU4Hd9GO

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) April 2, 2023

Up Next

The Bees travel to New Mexico for a six-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes. The series begins on Tuesday, April 4, and ends on Sunday, April 9.

Listen to ‘Voice of the Bees’ Steve Klauke on KSL Sports Zone. All Salt Lake Bees games are featured on the KSL Sports app. Purchase tickets to see the Bees play at slbees.com.