NASHVILLE — The Salt Lake Bees erupted for five runs in the sixth inning to rally past the Nashville Sounds 7-4 on Saturday night.
Salt Lake trailed 4-1 entering the sixth against former Kearns High star Jared Fernandez (6-4), but Casey Smith opened the inning with a double and moved to third on a single by Erick Aybar. Kendry Morales drilled a double off the right field wall to score Smith and Mike Eylward then doubled into the left field corner to drive in Aybar and Morales to tie the game at 4-4.
One out later, Jason Aspito drilled a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Eylward with the go ahead run. They add another run on an RBI single by Darren Blakely, who capped off the scoring with a leadoff home run in the ninth. The five-run outburst marked the most runs scored by the Bees in an inning since June 17 when they scored five runs in the third in game one of a doubleheader against Las Vegas.
The bullpen gave Salt Lake a big lift as Matt Wilhite (6-2), who is from nearby Franklin, Ky., threw three scoreless innings for the win, while Marcus Gwyn and Chris Bootcheck each tossed a shutout inning. For Bootcheck, it was his first save of the season in three opportunities. Blakely led the offense with two hits and three runs batted in, while Aybar added two hits and one run scored.