Taylor Blast Leads to 9-7 Saints Win in Wild Battle
August 3, 2014 - American Association (AA)
Wichita Wingnuts News Release
SAINTS PAUL, MN - The Wichita Wingnuts and St. Paul Saints took part in a wild contest that featured five home runs and five different half innings with multiple runs crossing home plate on Saturday night at Midway Stadium. Eventually Saints' catcher Jake Taylor broke an eighth inning tie with a home run to left field that helped his team avoid the sweep and emerge victorious by a 9-7 score.
The contest featured a starting pitching showdown between the top two pitchers in the American Association in ERA, Anthony Claggett and Jason Van Skike. The Wingnuts (48-23) wasted no time in taking an early advantage. Ryan Khoury started the game with a single and his mate in the middle infield, Jake Kahaulelio, followed by blasting his second home run of the series, a two-run shot to left. The lead increased to 3-0 on a run-scoring single by Chris McMurray in the third frame.
Jason Van Skike worked through the St. Paul (41-30) order one time without a base runner, but could not keep up the dominance in the fourth. Devin Thaut led off with a double and then former Wingnut, Jared McDonald, ripped a two-run home run over the wall in right to trim the lead immediately to 3-2. Willie Cabrera also doubled to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. After recording two outs with no advancement, Van Skike issued a walk to Evan Bigley prior to an RBI single by Taylor that evened the game at three.
The game seesawed in the fifth inning with St. Paul closing the frame in the lead. Wichita immediately re-gained the advantage with a Chris McClendon RBI single. Joey Becker led off the bottom half by drawing a walk and moved to second on sacrifice bunt by Thaut. With two down, Cabrera stayed hot by ripping a line drive to left that tied the game once again. After Henry Wrigley reached on an error, Angelo Songco made the mistake hurt with a three-run long ball to right that put the Saints on top 7-4.
With Claggett heading to the dugout after six innings of work, Mikey Mehlich came out of bullpen to pitch the Wichita seventh. Brent Clevlen greeted him with a laser home run to left to pull closer at 7-5. Carlo Testa, McMurray, and McClendon all reached on consecutive infield singles to load the bases. David Amberson inched the Nuts a little closer with a fielder's groundout to short and then Jake Luce tied the game on a sacrifice fly to shallow center. Amberson attempted to score on a ball that squirted passed Taylor a short distance, but was thrown out on a nice play by both Taylor and Mehlich.
After Daniel Bennett threw a one, two, three bottom of the seventh, left-hander Alex Hinshaw came on for the eighth. After retiring the leadoff hitter, Hinshaw walked Bigley on a close pitch. The next batter, Taylor, ripped his second home run of the series, and fourth of the season, to put St. Paul ahead 9-7. Hinshaw rebounded with two strikeouts to end the inning and send the game to the ninth.
The St. Paul closer, Dan Sattler, came on to work the ninth inning, after recording the final out in the eighth. He issued a free pass to McClendon with one out, but the following hitter, Amberson, hit a soft line drive back to Sattler who caught the ball and threw to first to double up the runner and bring an end to the game.
Five Wingnuts reached double digits in the hit column as the team tallied 14 base knocks. Brent Clevlen finished the St. Paul series with eight hits in 13 at bats and eight runs driven in.
The Wingnuts begin a four-game series with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. The Wingnuts will hand the ball to RHP Justin Klipp (6-3). For information on season tickets, group outings, and party packages, call the Wingnuts' main office at (316) 264-NUTS, or visit the Wingnuts' official website at www.wichitawingnuts.com.
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