This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Salt Lake Bees' 2016 season came to a close with a 7-1 loss to the Las Vegas 51s on Labor Day.
At Smith's Ballpark, Las Vegas hitters got a pair of runs off five hits in the fourth and then collected five more over the sixth and seventh innings. Part of that latter stretch included a two-run homer by Las Vegas' Marc Krauss.
Salt Lake starter Kyle Kendrick worked into the sixth inning while his pitching counterpart, Las Vegas' Josh Zeid, recorded six shutout innings for the win.
The Bees' season, which included several appearances by former Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum, ended with a 63-79 record and a last-place finish in the Pacific Southern division of the Pacific Coast League.
Bees MVP • Cal Towey drew a pair of walks in his first two at-bats, but then cracked a triple to start the seventh when he drove a ball into right-center. Towey then scored on a wild pitch by Las Vegas reliever Duane Below.
Flashing Leather • Salt Lake first baseman Angel Rosa ended a bases-loaded situation, when the game was still scoreless, by ranging near the home dugout and snatching a foul pop out of the stands to end the third inning.
Turning point • Bees pitchers got out of two bases-juiced spots, only behind 2-0, when the third time did them in. With Las Vegas runners at every bag in the sixth, a soft single by T.J. Rivera scored a pair of runs to double the advantage.
Power outage • Towey ended up leading the Bees in home runs in 2015 with nine. The previous record for fewest homers by the team leader was in 2013 — when Trent Oeltjen paced Salt Lake with 14.
Half a million served • The lack of slugging didn't overly affect the gate as Salt Lake passed the half-million attendance mark for the first time since 2013. For the final home game, 12,132 fans were on hand to push the season total to 503,659.
Quotable • "Obviously the win-loss record, from a fan's standpoint, isn't where you want it to be. But going through some 70-odd players, sending as many up [to the Los Angeles Angels] as we did and seeing those guys do well, is a successful season," Bees' manager Keith Johnson said.