Humphreys’ Blast Lifts Bees To Wild Extra-Inning Win Over Express

April 28, 2024 – Pacific Coast League (PCL)
Salt Lake Bees News Release

The Salt Lake Bees took home the win in a wild game against the Round Rock Express on Saturday evening, emerging victorious by a final score of 6-5 in 12 innings on the strength of a late home run off the bat of Zach Humphreys.

After a pair of back-and-forth extra frames where neither team could take control, Salt Lake’s breakthrough came in the top of the twelfth when Humphreys strolled to the plate to lead the inning off. On the second pitch of his at bat, the Bees catcher took a low sinker from Round Rock’s Jesus Tinoco and deposited it over the left field wall for a two-run blast, giving the team the cushion it needed to finally put things away. Jimmy Herget stranded the tying run on base in the bottom half of the inning, striking out Derek Hill to secure the dramatic victory for Salt Lake.

Humphreys’ heroics were only made possible by an equally clutch play a few innings earlier, this one coming in the field by right fielder D’Shawn Knowles. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Express seemed to have walked things off when Jantzen Witte lined a ball through the right side with the winning run on second base in the form of Trevor Hauver. Knowles fielded the ball cleanly and uncorked a perfect throw to the plate, though, gunning down Hauver by a good margin to save the game for the Bees.

Another key contributor to the win was starter Brett Kerry, who turned in what was without a doubt the best of his six career outings at the Triple-A level. The righty finished six innings on 80 pitches, allowing just four hits and a lone earned run on a bloop single in the third while walking no one and striking out six. Kerry was aided by some early offense as well, with a solo homer by Jack López, an RBI single by Bryce Teodosio and a sacrifice fly by Cole Tucker providing him with the run support that needed to work through his start.

The Bees will now try to take home a split in the series finale against the Express on Sunday, with the first pitch scheduled to take place at 12:05 p.m.

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