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IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Bash Baseball Best 12th Grand Slam in 11-3 Dismantling of Bats

September 5, 2023 - International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


LOUISVILLE, KY - Brooks Lee did something on Tuesday night at Louisville Slugger Field he hadn't accomplished in his short professional career, hit a grand slam. It gave the St. Paul Saints 12 on the season, the most among the 120 Minor League teams and 30 Major League teams. The grand slam was an exclamation point on an 11-3 victory over the Louisville Bats. The win improves the Saints to 33-25 on the season.

The Saints got on the board first in the second without a hit. With one out, Bats pitcher Teddy Stankiewicz walked three straight hitters. Jair Camargo's sacrifice fly gave the Saints a 1-0 lead.

The Bats tied it in the bottom of the inning when Jhonny Pereda doubled and scored on a two-out single from TJ Hopkins.

The Saints finally collected their first hit in the fourth, but not until they worked three walks with two outs to load the bases. Michael Helman, in his first game back since injuring his shoulder on May 11, cleared the bases with a double over the left fielder Jacob Hurtubise's head giving the Saints a 4-1 lead. Major League rehabber Alex Kirilloff followed with an RBI single into right-center increasing the lead to 5-1. Kirilloff finished the night 3-5 with a double, RBI, and a run scored.

Yunior Severino joined a select group in the fifth. Trevor Larnach led off with a single to left and with one out Severino crushed a monster two-run homer to right, his sixth with the Saints, making it 7-1. The home run was the 30th of the season for Severino, who hit 24 at Double-A Wichita, and he became just the eighth Minor League player to hit 30 home runs this season.

Severino's homer wasn't the biggest of the night as the Saints put the game away in the eighth. The Saints loaded the bases to start the inning as Hernán Pérez led off the inning with an infield single to third. Helman was hit by a pitch, and Kirilloff singled to center. That brought up Brooke Lee who crushed the first grand slam of his career, a 415-foot blast the opposite way to left-center, his third home run with the Saints, making it 11-1. The grand slam was the 12th of the season for the Saints, most in all of baseball, one ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Bats grabbed a run in the eighth and ninth on an RBI double by Pereda and an RBI single from Jason Vosler.

The same two teams meet in game two of the six-game series on Wednesday night at 5:35 p.m. (CT). The Saints send RHP David Festa (1-0, 1.80) to the mound against Bats RHP Randy Wynne (3-4, 6.03). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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International League Stories from September 5, 2023


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