River Cats Rally Late, Take Series Finale 9–5 on Easter Sunday

SOUTH JORDAN, UT. - The Salt Lake Bees took a 5-3 lead into the eighth before back-to-back three run frames for Sacramento put the River Cats up 9-5 securing a series split in this week's home opening set.

Sacramento 9, Salt Lake 5

WP: Will Bednar (1 - 0)

LP: Nick Jones (0 - 1)

SV: Gregory Santos (1)

Key Performers

Trey Mancini: 2-3, HR, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB

Christian Moore: 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, 3 BB

Vaughn Grissom: 2-5, 2B, 2 K

Kaleb Ort: 1.2 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 K

Game Summary

Easter Sunday’s series finale began with Sacramento taking the first lead for the sixth time in the series highlighted by Victor Bericoto’s three-run homer to right.

The Bees chipped away from there, starting with a leadoff home run from Trey Mancini in the second to get Salt Lake on the board.

Salt Lake had the leadoff man reach in five consecutive innings including Mancini’s homer while the Bees added another run in the fourth on an RBI groundout from Sebastián Rivero, trimming the deficit to 3–2.

The turning point appeared to come in the sixth inning an RBI groundout by Yolmer Sanchez bringing the Bees within a run. Christian Moore delivered the big swing on a two-run double down the first base line to give Salt Lake its first lead of the day at 5–3.

Bees pitching held firm with six scoreless frames holding off the River Cats since the three run first to preserve the advantage heading into the eighth. The River Cats opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Bericoto struck again, ripping an RBI double to right to cut the lead to one. Grant McCray followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game, and after a pitching change, Jake Holton delivered the go-ahead RBI single to complete the three-run rally and put Sacramento back in front, 6–5.

Sacramento poured on with its second straight three-run frame in the ninth with Will Brennan putting the game away with a three run blast to secure the series split and 9-5 Sunday victory.

Game Notes

• Salt Lake and Sacramento split yet another series, continuing their back-and-forth stretch after going 12–12 against each other in 2025 and 18–18 over their last 36 meetings. The last series win between the two came July 9–14, 2024, when Salt Lake took four of six.

• The Bees drew six more walks on Sunday, giving them a PCL-leading 40 walks since Tuesday and a league-tying 57 on the season (with Las Vegas). Their 57 walks through the first nine games mark the most in Bees franchise history (2006–present), surpassing the previous mark of 53 set in 2023.

• Christian Moore added three walks to his PCL-leading total of 13, while also collecting a big two-run double that gave Salt Lake the lead after six innings. Moore’s 13 walks are the most by a single player through a team’s first nine games in Triple-A since the 2021 season (Ronnie Dawson, Sugar Land). Moore drew at least three walks in three games of the series (4 on Apr. 1) including three free passes in back-to-back games.

• Vaughn Grissom mashed a double in his first at-bat today, notching a hit in all six games of the series. The major leaguer’s rehab assignment has been fruitful, going 9-for-21 (.429) with two doubles and three RBI.

• Trey Mancini reached safely in four of his five plate appearances today. He went yard with a second-inning solo shot for his first longball of the year. It was part of a two-hit, three runs scored outing from the first baseman.

• Nick Madrigal notched his first two-hit game of the season going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Madrigal batted .333 (4-for-12) for the series with three RBI and a run scored.

• Out of the bullpen, Kaleb Ort was dominant, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and striking out four, his highest strikeout total since fanning five on June 7, 2024, with Sugar Land (against Salt Lake).

Up Next

The Salt Lake Bees will hit the road and head to Reno to take on the Aces Apr. 7-12 with game one of the series starting on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. MST.