Valdez Goes the Distance As Bees Beat Rainiers

César Valdez threw his second nine-inning complete game of 2022 Thursday night as the Salt Lake Bees beat the Tacoma Rainiers 8-1. The Bees climbed back over .500 with the win, improving to 14-13 on the season, while Tacoma fell to 8-19.

Valdez struck out eight batters, gave up just one run on eight hits, and surpassed 1,600 innings for his professional career. The 37-year-old became the only pitcher in all of Major and Minor League Baseball to have thrown two complete games this season. The only other pitcher to have even one complete game in 2022 is Walker Buehler of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Complete Games thrown this season
César Valdez: 2
Everybody else: 1 pic.twitter.com/vCezwYapf6

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) May 6, 2022

The Bees’ offense put together 15 hits and batted around in a five-run fifth inning. Dillon Thomas and David MacKinnon both went 3-for-5 while Kean Wong and Austin Romine both had two hits on the night. Thomas’ single in the first inning was the 700th hit in his professional career.

Defensively, the Bees turned three double plays in the game, all started by Wong at third base.

It was a scoreless affair through five and a half innings of play, until the Salt Lake bats exploded for five runs on five hits and two walks in the bottom of the sixth. Monte Harrison hit a two-run single and stole second and third in the inning.

Monte Harrison with the clutch two-run single! pic.twitter.com/bvyomZHOW2

— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) May 6, 2022

The Rainiers scored their lone run in the top of the eighth, but the Bees answered right back with three more of their own. Valdez struck out two batters and made the assist at first base to finish the game and go the distance.

Tacoma and Salt Lake will face off again tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. at Smith’s Ballpark.