Farm Report: Bees Come Away Victorious in Thursday’s Lone Game

An early pitcher’s duel and some more late-game drama from Salt Lake highlighted the lone game in today’s Farm Report:

Player of the Day

It has been an up-and-down year for Thomas Pannone in 2021, but he finished his season strong on Thursday, tossing six innings while allowing just one unearned run in a 3-2 Bees victory.

Pannone allowed just five hits and a pair of walks in this one while striking out five Tacoma Rainiers hitters. He ends his minor-league season with five quality starts in his last six outings.

AAA Salt Lake

Pannone’s solid effort on the mound gave the Bees a lot of room to work, but they could not capitalize off of Tacoma starter Ryan Weber. It wasn’t until the 5th inning when Salt Lake finally got something going against Weber, when Brennon Lund launched a solo shot to left to give the team a 1-0 lead.

This lead would get doubled one inning later, when Brendon Davis joined the home run party by blasting the first pitch of the sixth into left field for a solo shot of his own, giving the Bees a 2-0 advantage. This was Davis’s third home run in his last five games and his 29th longball of the season, which leads all Angels minor leaguers.

The Rainiers had an answer for this in the sixth, however. After a double and an error by third baseman Mitch Walding put runners on the corners with two outs, Tacoma brought home its first run of the game thanks to another error by Davis off the bat of Jose Godoy, cutting the Salt Lake lead down to 2-1.

This lead would disappear two innings later, with Tacoma tying things up in the eighth off of new reliever Jake Petricka. A single by Jantzen Witte and a walk by Jose Marmolejos once again put runners on the corners with just one out, and Brian O’Keefe subsequently came through with an RBI single off of Petricka, scoring Witte and bringing the score level for the first time since 0-0. The Rainiers almost took the lead in this inning as well on a base hit by Godoy, but a great relay from Lund to Michael Stefanic to Chad Wallach cut down Marmolejos before he could score the go-ahead run.

As they have quite often as of late, though, the Bees managed to find some late-inning magic after relinquishing their lead. With no outs in the top of the ninth, Wallach stepped up to the plate and launched the team’s third solo home run of the game, a dramatic shot to left field that put Salt Lake on top once again. Closer Tim Peterson shut the door easily in the bottom of the ninth, and the Bees came away with the win by a final of 3-2.

Transactions

Triple-A: Matt Thaiss was recalled to the big-league club on Thursday. In the corresponding move, Janson Junk was optioned to AAA, although he won’t pitch in the Bees’ final three games after starting on Wednesday in Texas for the Angels.

Scoreboard

Salt Lake 3, Tacoma 2

Remaining Schedule

Friday, 7:05 PM PST: Salt Lake Bees (TBD) @ Tacoma Rainiers (TBD)

Saturday, 5:05 PM PST: Salt Lake Bees (TBD) @ Tacoma Rainiers (TBD)

Sunday, 1:35 PM PST: Salt Lake Bees (TBD) @ Tacoma Rainiers (TBD)