Bees break open seventh, top Storm Chasers 8-4 behind back-to-back homers

Jeimer Candelario and Kyren Paris turned a one-run game into Salt Lake’s cleanest win of the week, going back-to-back in a four-run seventh inning that carried the Bees past the Omaha Storm Chasers 8-4 on Saturday, July 25.

That burst came after a game that stayed tight for most of the night. Omaha scored first in the second inning, but Salt Lake answered in the home half of the frame and kept the pressure on before finally blowing it open in the seventh. The Bees added another run in the eighth to finish the job and close out a Pacific Coast League win that had more consequence for Salt Lake’s momentum than the final margin suggests.

The home runs from Candelario and Paris were the defining swings. In a series full of offense and lead changes, Salt Lake needed one inning where the bats looked decisive instead of merely competitive, and the seventh provided it. The Bees had spent much of the five-game set chasing Omaha after the Storm Chasers opened the series with a 9-8 win and followed with 8-3, 12-2 and 10-7 victories. Saturday finally flipped the script.

For an Angels affiliate trying to sort out who is ready for a larger role, the game gave Candelario and Paris the kind of visible, high-leverage statement that gets attention. Candelario’s power bat remains the most obvious big-league-adjacent indicator in the box score, and Paris added his own jolt with the kind of consecutive pop that changes the feel of a Triple-A lineup in one half-inning. Salt Lake did not just scratch back into the series; it answered the way a club wants a depth-chart candidate to answer, with damage against a winning opponent instead of empty traffic.

The result also stopped Omaha’s run in a series that had tilted heavily toward the visitors before Saturday. The Storm Chasers had controlled the early part of the matchup in Salt Lake City, but the Bees used one emphatic inning to reset the tone and leave the week with at least one clear development takeaway: Candelario and Paris were the hitters who most clearly helped themselves when the game was on the line.