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AA St. Paul Saints

Fun with Numbers: Saints Bounce Back to Beat Birds, 11-8

August 15, 2018 - American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL - After scoring eight runs in the ninth inning on Monday and seven runs in the third on Tuesday, the St. Paul Saints continued their string of crooked numbers with a six-run seventh on Wednesday. Entering the bottom of the third inning down 5-0 to the Sioux Falls Canaries, the Saints came roaring back to take the lead, and eventually take the game, 11-8, on Wednesday afternoon at CHS Field in front of 8,913. The win improves the Saints to 47-36 and moves them into sole possession of first place in the North Division by 0.5 game, with 17 to go. Gary SouthShore and Fargo-Moorhead play later on this evening.

The Saints fell behind early as the Canaries got to starter Ryan Zimmerman. Scoring all four runs with two outs in the second, the Canaries added one more in the third on a Jabari Henry solo home run.

From there, the swinging Saints began to chip away. Nathaniel Maggio led off the third inning with a single, extending his career high hitting streak to 17 games, longest of the season by a Saints players. With one out, Joey Wong walked and Max Murphy brought home Maggio with an RBI double down the left field line. With two outs, Kyle Barrett lined a two-run single to left center and then Brady Shoemaker grounded a base hit through the right side to cut the deficit to 5-4. Barrett went 3-5 with a double, two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base. He also hit safely for an 11th consecutive game.

The Canaries responded with a run in the fifth inning, on an RBI single from ex-Saint Jeff Malm. An additional run was scraped across in the sixth, when Henry singled to score another former Saint, Jordan Smith, to make it 7-4.

Getting one back in the bottom of the sixth, Zach Walters walked to lead things off. Dante Bichette Jr. sent Walters to third with a single to right, extending his own hitting streak to 14. Then, with one out, Aaron Gretz doubled down the right field line to score Walters and make it 7-5.

The Saints come back began in the sixth inning. With Burt Reynolds on at second and one out, he was caught too far off the bag. Breaking for third, catcher Maxx Garrett threw the ball over third baseman Patrick Fiala, allowing Reynolds to score. Following that, Shoemaker tied the game at seven with his 10th home run of the season. Walters walked to restart the rally and Bichette Jr. singled to put runners at the corners. Maggio then doubled off the top of the wall in right, scoring Walters, giving the Saints their first lead of the day, 8-7. They did not stop however, as the next batter, Gretz, launched his first homer of the season out to right-center and vaulted the Saints ahead 11-7. Gretz went 2-4, doubled, homered and had four RBI.

After the Canaries scored once more in the eighth, closer Zack Jones stepped in as the fifth reliever of the game and finished the ninth in one, two, three fashion. He is now 6-6 in save opportunities.

The same two teams meet in the series finale on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. at CHS Field. The Saints will send RHP Trevor Foss (3-2, 3.21) to the mound against RHP Dylan Thompson (5-8, 5.38). It is Irish Night. The game can be seen on the Saints Cable Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities, and heard on Alt 93.3 FM.

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