Salt Lake Bees belts pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam

SALT LAKE CITY — Cory Aldridge is now in his 13th season of professional baseball, so he's been around the bases a few times in his day.

But hitting a game-winning, pinch-hit grand slam in his team's final at-bat is certainly something that's not a usual occurrence for the Salt Lake Bees' veteran outfielder.

"It's not the easiest thing to do," said Aldridge of pinch hitting. "Sometimes it's more luck than anything. . . . I just put a decent swing on it and it went out."

Aldridge's bases-clearing home run in the bottom of the sixth in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Portland Beavers gave the Bees a 6-2 victory. The Bees followed that up with a 6-3 win in the nightcap. "I only remember one other grand slam that I've had," said Aldridge. "There may have been others, but it's something that doesn't happen often. I'm just blessed today — especially on a day like that because you definitely don't want to play extra innings in a doubleheader."

The twinbill sweep of 7-inning games on a cold and rainy night improved the Bees to 10-11 on the year. Salt Lake, which has never been above .500 this season, is scheduled to host the Beavers again today at 2 p.m. with the chance to even its record on the year.

Bees manager Bobby Mitchell decided to pinch hit Aldridge, a left-handed hitter, for team captain Nick Gorneault against the Beavers' Greg Burke and it went just as planned. "It worked out," said Mitchell of the move. "Players can make you look like a genius sometimes. Then again, sometimes they can make you look like you are crazy."

Sean O'Sullivan pitched the complete seven innings to earn the victory in the opener.

Salt Lake used four different pitchers in the nightcap with Bobby Cassevah earning the victory and Rafael Rodriguez getting the save. The big hit in the second game was by third baseman Freddy Sandoval, who drove in a pair of runs with a double. "That was important for us," said Mitchell. "Obviously, it's really hard to sweep a doubleheader, especially against a good team, and that's what they are."

BEES WAX: Salt Lake has now gone 10 straight games without a fielding error, which ties the franchise record. .. The Bees finished April with an 8-11 mark, the first time they've completed the first month of the season with a losing record since 2005. ... The announced crowd was 3,168 on Saturday, but under less-than-ideal playing conditions, the actual attendance was far less than that.

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