SALT LAKE CITY — After two wins in as many nights, Salt Lake fell back into the familiar rut of getting pounded by Sacramento. This time, the River Cats hung an 14-1 win on the Bees in the finale of the teams' four-game series.

"Shoot. That team, they have a bunch of guys who are capable of knocking the ball out of the ballpark," Salt Lake manager Keith Johnson said. "There's a reason they have such a good record."

Sacramento plated three runs in the third inning to start the scoring then hit two opposite-field home runs — by Adrian Cardenas and Kevin Kouzmanoff — in the top of the fifth.

Opportune hitting had pushed the Bees to wins the previous two nights, but the club came up empty on Thursday.

The Bees loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth, but weak grounders by Reggie Willits and Hank Conger resulted in three quick outs — the final two via a double-play — and another wasted opportunity for Salt Lake.

The River Cats pounced quickly in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs to extend their lead to 7-0.

"That's kind of been the story of our year a little bit," Johnson said. "We give ourselves some opportunities. Sometimes we come through and other times we don't."

Salt Lake's only run came in the seventh when Freddy Sandoval scored on a groundout by Dwayne Bailey. Sandoval had reached on an error to lead off the inning.

Former BYU standout Matt Carson doubled, tripled and scored three runs for the River Cats, while Jermaine Taylor went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.

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He capped the scoring with a monster three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning. Michael Taylor went 3-for-4 with three RBIs in the win.

Sandoval added a double in the bottom of the ninth, and Willits walked three times for Salt Lake.

The Bees will stay at home for a four-game set against Tacoma over the weekend. Game one is tonight at 7:05 at Spring Mobile Ballpark.

email: mpayne@desnews.com

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