Kerry Shines, But Salt Lake Walked Off on Wednesday Night

By Salt Lake Bees

September 3, 2026

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA. - Brett Kerry’s six scoreless innings and Ben Gobbel’s solo homer appeared to have had Salt Lake in the driver’s seat Wednesday, but a furious ninth inning rally saved Sacramento. Charlie Szykowny won the ballgame at 3-1 with his walk-off, three-run blast, his first professional game-ending home

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA. - Brett Kerry’s six scoreless innings and Ben Gobbel’s solo homer appeared to have had Salt Lake in the driver’s seat Wednesday, but a furious ninth inning rally saved Sacramento. Charlie Szykowny won the ballgame at 3-1 with his walk-off, three-run blast, his first professional game-ending home run.

Sacramento 3, Salt Lake 1

WP: Alex Carrillo (2-2)

LP: Jared Southard (1-4)

Key Performers

Brett Kerry: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, ND

Ben Gobbel: 2-3, R, HR, RBI

Pablo Reyes: 2-3

Game Summary

Brett Kerry dueled with Sacramento’s Joe Whitman in Wednesday’s showdown, each tallying two scoreless frames to start. Ben Gobbel rewarded his pitcher and broke the deadlock in the third inning with a two-out, 413-foot solo shot to center field, his eighth longball of the season.

Despite allowing his first two hits of the outing, Kerry navigated around a scoring chance to tally four shutout innings. He recorded a 1-2-3 fifth and then completed six scoreless innings, notching his fourth quality start of the season. Kerry gave way to Mason Erla, who made his 2026 season debut tonight. The Michigander tallied a 1-2-3 seventh to keep the shutout intact.

On the other side, Whitman was spectacular, as the lefty posted his fifth quality start at Triple-A with a career-high eight innings of one-run ball and five strikeouts.

Sacramento put pressure on Hagen Danner to begin the eighth with a leadoff double. The right hander got two groundouts, including one with the infield in, to keep the lead. A two-out walk placed the go-ahead run aboard, but Danner was bailed out on a 3-0 count that resulted in a groundout to end the threat.

Salt Lake failed to get insurance in the ninth, even after getting two runners aboard. Jared Southard entered to secure the shutout victory, but immediately ran into trouble. A leadoff two-bagger and four-pitch walk set up first baseman Charlie Szykowny. His first career Triple-A homer ended the game, a three-run shot that sent the River Cats into the win column.

Game Notes

Salt Lake was walked off for the sixth time this season and second time in the last three games after being walked off to Tacoma on Sunday. All six walk-offs against the Bees have come in the second half and now twice to Sacramento.
After holding Sacramento to one run last night, Salt Lake was kept to just one run tonight coming on Ben Gobbel’s solo shot in the third. It was the 12th time this season Salt Lake has been limited to one run and first since July 8, also at Sacramento.
Brett Kerry was superb in his 21st start of the campaign, spinning six scoreless innings of work tonight. The righty yielded three hits, two walks and struck out three in his fourth quality start of the season (first since August 14 at El Paso). This is Kerry’s 16th career quality start at Triple-A and six of those, including tonight, have come against the River Cats. It is just his second scoreless appearance in 2026, joining Kerry’s seven-inning output in El Paso on August 14.
Pablo Reyes managed his third straight multi-hit effort with a pair of singles. He extended his current career-long hitting streak to 13 games and now has multiple hits in five of his last six games. Reyes has 120 Triple-A hits this season, a new career high, and is 11 hits shy of his all-time career record (131, between AAA and MLB in 2018).
Jeimer Candelario has hits in nine of his last 10 games, beating out an infield chopper in his first at-bat. Since August 19, the infielder is batting .381 in that 10-game span.
Leaving the yard tonight was Ben Gobbel. It was his eighth homer of the season and first since August 18 vs. Reno. Gobbel owns a four-game hit streak and has knocks in seven of his last eight contests. The first baseman secured a two-hit ledger with an eighth-inning single, his first multi-hit effort since August 18.
Yolmer Sánchez increased his on-base streak to eight games, singling to left in the fifth. He has hits in consecutive games and has 102 total, second most on the team.
Sebastián Rivero has hits in two straight games; he also owns a four-game on-base streak, matching his season high (April 4-9). In his last four games, Rivero is batting 5-for-16 (.313) with two runs, two extra-base hits, four RBI and a .952 OPS.
Mason Erla made his 2026 season debut tonight. The righty kept the shutout together with a 1-2-3, 13-pitch frame. The Michigander last threw on May 13, 2025 for the Bees, coincidentally in Sacramento, where he tallied 2.2 scoreless innings.
Hagen Danner posted his second straight scoreless outing, working around a leadoff double and two-out walk. The Golden State native has a 3.86 ERA in his four appearances as a Salt Lake Bee.
After 8.1 scoreless innings, Jared Southard has now allowed runs in consecutive outings. The Texan blew his second save of the year and tallied his fourth loss of 2026 after allowing all three hitters to reach in the ninth. Southard has struggled against Sacramento this season, holding a 8.71 ERA across eight games. More specifically, Sutter Heath Park has been problematic in 2026 for the righty, owning his highest ERA (18.00) among venues he has pitched three or more times (4 APP at SAC).

Up Next

Salt Lake’s ninth straight road game is set for Thursday at Sutter Health Park. The Bees will take on the River Cats at 7:45 p.m. MDT from California’s capital city.