Salt Lake victorious in solid road effort

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Salt Lake Bees evened their series with the Sacramento River Cats with an 8-5 win Saturday night behind a strong pitching performance from starter Joe Saunders and some clutch hitting.

Saunders threw six innings to pick up the win. He allowed five hits and two runs while walking two and striking out six. While Saunders did the work on the mound, Mike Eylward was the catalyst to the offense that saw six Bees finish with at least one run batted in. He finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

The Bees struck first in the fourth inning. Howie Kendrick singled to get things rolling. Eylward followed by hitting his third home run of the season to left field to put Salt Lake on top.

The River Cats pulled even in the top of the fifth as Keith Ginter led off with a solo-homer before Saunders had some control issues as he allowed a pair of singles and walked the next two batters forcing in a run.

With the 'Cats pulling even, the Bees' offense awakened in the sixth to resume control. Kendrick walked to lead off. Elyward and Jeff Mathis then singled before Jason Aspito hit an RBI single. Casey Smith hit a sacrifice-fly scoring Eylward followed by a run-scoring single from Clifton Remole. The scoring was capped when Adam Pavkovich reached on an error allowing Remole to score.

The Bees added another run in the seventh on a Mathis sacrifice-fly before Sacramento made it interesting in the bottom of the inning. The River Cats scored three runs on reliever Nathan Bland on two walks and a pair of singles. Matt Hensley entered to end the rally and threw a scoreless eighth before turning it over to Greg Jones who picked up the save.

Salt Lake moves to 49-33 on the year and remain in first place in the Pacific North Division of the Pacific Coast League. Sacramento falls to 40-43. The two teams continue the four-game series tonight with the first pitch at 8:05.