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AA St. Paul Saints

Saints Errors Prove Costly in 4-1 Loss to Canaries

May 24, 2014 - American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - The St. Paul Saints have been impressive in many different facets of the game early on in 2014, defense, however, hasn't been one of them. On Saturday night in front of 4,647 at Midway Stadium the Saints committed three errors that led to three unearned runs in a 4-1 loss to the Sioux Falls Canaries.

With the game scoreless in the fifth the Canaries scored their lone earned run of the evening. Chris Duffy doubled to left-center, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a double by Kevin Dultz to give the Canaries a 1-0 lead.

In the seventh the errors began to mount. Chris Valencia led off with a hard grounder that bounced off the chest of shortstop Brandon Wikoff for an error. Stephen Branca sacrificed him to second and Duffy plated Valencia with a single to left to make it 2-0. Duffy finished the night 3-3 with a double, RBI and a run scored.

The Saints scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh when Henry Wrigley deposited one over the left field wall, his second of the season, to cut the deficit to 2-1.

After Saints starter Jeff Shields struck out Carlos Mendez to lead off the eighth he departed for reliever Ryan Bollinger. Shields went 7.1 innings allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits while walking two and striking out five. Bollinger gave up a single to Brandon Jones, but then got a ground ball off the bat of Chase Burch that was hit at second baseman Devin Thaut. He couldn't field the ball cleanly and Jones was safe at second with Burch safe at first on the error. That proved to be costly as, after Bollinger struck out Valencia, Jon Plefka took over. He promptly gave up a two-run triple to Stephen Branca to make it 4-1.

The same two teams meet in the finale of the four game series on Sunday evening at 5:05 p.m. The Saints send RHP Anthony Claggett (2-0, 1.32) to the mound against Canaries LHP Joe Bircher (0-0, 4.26). Following the game is the Monster Food Truck Rally and the Super Fireworks Show. The game can be heard on Club 1220 KLBB and in the ballpark on 87.9 FM.

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