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IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Come from Five Back, But Get Walked off in Ninth, Lose 7-6

September 3, 2021 - International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


COLUMBUS, OH - The St. Paul Saints offense was dormant for five innings on Friday night at Huntington Park. They came back from a five-run deficit scoring four in the eighth to tie it, but a bases loaded hit by pitch in the bottom of the ninth was the difference in the game as the Saints lost 7-6 to the Columbus Clippers.

With the Saints down 6-1 in the seventh Drew Maggi continued his career year in the power department as he slugged a solo homer to left, his 14th of the season, getting the Saints back to within four at 6-2.

The Saints came roaring back in the eighth to tie it up. Francisco Perez came on in relief and walked the bases loaded with one out. Jordan Stephens then took over and got Gilberto to fly out to medium right for the second out. Jimmy Kerrigan lined an RBI single into left making it 6-3. Maggi then tied it with a bases clearing double to the wall in left.

In the top of the ninth the Saints had an opportunity to take the lead. BJ Boyd led off the inning with a bloop single to left. He advanced to second on a passed ball. Drew Stankiewicz then laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Boyd to third. It was the first sacrifice bunt of the season for the Saints, who were the last Triple-A team to drop one down. There are now only four teams in all of Minor League Baseball who have not had a sacrifice bunt (Corpus Christi, Peoria, Rome, and Tampa). It was all for naught, however, as Jose Miranda lined out to third and Boyd was doubled off to end the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jovani Moran was pitching his second inning of relief and gave up a leadoff single to Mike Rivera. With Bryan Lavastida pinch running, Moran walked Alex Call to put runners at first and second. Steven Kwan then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up 90-feet. A walk to Will Benson loaded the bases and then on a 3-1 pitch, Moran hit Gabrial Arias to force in the winning run.

Saints starter Drew Strotman had trouble getting the third out as he gave up five runs, all with two outs. Kwan led off the bottom of the first with a double to right. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out single by Oscar Gonzalez to put the Clippers up 1-0.

In the second, the Clippers tacked on another run when Andruw Monasterio led off with a double. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a two-out bunt single by Call making it 2-0.

In the third the Clippers continued building their picket fence with another two-out RBI. This time it came by way of a solo homer to straightaway center by Oscar Gonzalez, his 12th of the season, increasing the Clippers lead to 3-0.

Strotman gave up his second long ball of the night in the fifth, and once again it came with two outs. With one out Kwan roped a single to left. With two outs Arias hit a two-run homer to right-center, his 11th of the season, sending the Clippers to a 5-0 lead. Strotman went 5.0 innings allowing five runs on seven hits while striking out six.

The Saints finally got on the board in the sixth as Stankiewicz led off the inning with a double to right-center. With two outs Mark Contreras roped a single off the wall in right scoring Stankiewicz to cut the deficit to 5-1.

The Clippers got the run back in the bottom of the inning against Major League rehabber Luke Farrell. He walked the first two hitters he faced and then Rivera singled to right to load the bases. Call drove home the run with a sacrifice fly to center making it 6-1. Farrell went 0.2 innings allowing one run on one hit while walking two and striking out one.

The same two teams meet in a double header on Saturday evening at 3:05 p.m. central. Both games are scheduled for seven innings with game two beginning approximately 30 minutes at the conclusion of game one. The Saints send RHP Beau Burrows (2-3, 5.98) to the mound in game one against Clippers RHP Heath Fillmyer (2-6, 8.25). In game two the Saints send RHP Jason Garcia (first Triple-A appearance) against Clippers LHP Juan Hillman (first Triple-A appearance). Both games can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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