Kavadas Homers, Aviators Rally Late to Defeat Bees 6-4

LAS VEGAS - The Salt Lake Bees dropped a 6-4 contest to the Las Vegas Aviators on Saturday night as Las Vegas scored four across the seventh and eighth innings while Niko Kavadas went yard for the fifth time in the series.

Las Vegas Aviators 6, Salt Lake Bees 4

WP: Michel Otañez (2 - 2)

LP: Dylan Phillips (0 - 1)

Game Summary

Salt Lake struck first in the opening frame when Nelson Rada drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on Chad Stevens’ sacrifice fly. The Bees doubled their advantage in the third after Scott Kingery doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and crossed the plate on Matthew Lugo’s RBI double, making it 2-0.

Joel Hurtado kept the Aviators quiet through the first three innings in his Triple-A debut, holding Las Vegas to just one hit before the Aviators put two on the board in the fourth. After Nick Martini singled and Alejo Lopez walked, Junior Perez ripped a two-run double down the left-field line to tie the game at 2-2. The Bees quickly answered in the sixth when Chad Stevens singled and later scored on a wild pitch during Zach Humphreys’ stolen base attempt, restoring a 3-2 lead.

The turning point came in the bottom of the seventh when Perez worked a leadoff walk and Luke Mann followed with a two-run homer to right field, vaulting Las Vegas ahead 4-3. The Aviators added key insurance runs in the eighth as Lopez singled and scored on a Shane McGuire double. Perez then struck again with a triple to left-center, driving in McGuire to extend the advantage to 6-3.

Niko Kavadas gave Salt Lake hope in the ninth, blasting his fifth home run of the series to lead off the inning but the rally ended there as Anthony Maldonado closed the door with three consecutive outs to finish the game and give Las Vegas a 6-4 win in game five.

Game Notes

• Salt Lake let a late lead slip away in game five, falling despite holding a one-run advantage through six innings. The loss moved the Bees to 50–12 this season when leading after six frames.
• The Bees homered for the fifth consecutive game and notched their eighth home run of the series. That total ties Albuquerque for the second-most in the league this week, trailing only Oklahoma City’s 10.
• Niko Kavadas homered for the fifth time in the series going 2-for-4 for his 24th multi-hit game of the year. Kavadas’ five homers in the series stand as a weekly-high in the PCL since Tuesday as no other player has hit more than two while batting .389 in the series with nine RBI. Kavadas reached 28 home runs for the season on Saturday night, the most by a Bee since Trey Cabbage hit 30 in 2023. Kavadas’ home run mark ranks second in the Pacific Coast League behind Ryan Ward’s 36 and is the fourth most in all of Triple-A.
• Chad Stevens went 1-for-2 with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk, extending his streak of games reaching base on a walk to seven straight. The infielder has now hit safely in eight of his last nine contests, raising his season total to 132 hits — the third most by a Bee since 2021, behind only Michael Stefanic’s 139 in 2023 and 135 in 2021. Stevens hit total ties Luis Campusano for the seventh-most hits in the league this season while being one of four PCL players (alongside Yonathan Perlaza, Campusano, Rhylan Thomas, and Ryan Ward) to record at least 130 hits and 18 home runs, and the only member of that group to also eclipse 20 stolen bases.
• Matthew Lugo went 1-for-4 with an RBI and his third double of the series, giving him a team-leading 28 on the season. Lugo is batting .263 in the set with five RBI, the second-most on the club this week. On the year, Lugo is one of just seven players in the Pacific Coast League to record at least 25 doubles, five triples, 60 or more RBI, and 100-plus hits.
• Nelson Rada saw his 13-game hitting streak come to an end but extended his on-base streak to 25 games, the fifth longest active streak in the PCL and highest by a Bee this season. During his on-base streak, Rada is batting .327 (32x98) with 19 runs scored and 17 runs batted in. He ties for the sixth most hits during that span while holding the league lead among all leadoff hitters since making debut on August 3 with 51 hits, ahead of Oklahoma City’s Esteury Ruiz with 46.
• Joel Hurtado made his Triple-A debut as Salt Lake’s starter on Saturday night becoming the sixth Bees starting pitcher to make their debut this season joining Caden Dana, Jack Kochanowicz, Sam Aldegheri, George Klassen and Walbert Urena. Hurtado went five innings allowing two runs on three hits with only one walk and three strikeouts. Two of the three hits off Hurtado came from hitters who led off an inning while tossing a perfect first two frames to start the game.

Up Next

Salt Lake will wrap up the 2025 campaign on Sunday afternoon as Shaun Anderson (4-8, 5.96) goes for the Bees against Yunior Tur (0-0, 2.25) with first pitch slated for 1:05 p.m. MST at Las Vegas Ballpark.