IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Freeze Bats Offense in 7-1 Victory

Published on April 8, 2022 under International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


LOUSVILLE, KY - It won't be the first time the St. Paul Saints set a franchise record for coldest game as the Minnesota Twins Triple-A affiliate. The game time temperature of 46 might be balmy by some standards, but it was the coldest game in franchise history. The Saints weren't affected as they got another superb starting pitching performance and some timely hits in a 7-1 victory over the Louisville Bats on Friday night. The win improved the Saints to 3-1.

The Saints grabbed a run in the first without a hit. Jake Cave led off the game with a walk. He moved to third when Royce Lewis' grounder was mishandled by Bats shortstop JT Riddle. A Trevor Larnach sacrifice lineout scored Cave putting the Saints up 1-0.

In the third, Lewis led off with an infield single to short. Larnach followed with a single to right moving Lewis to second. With one out, Fisher walked to load the bases. With two outs, Mark Contreras came through with a two-run single to center giving the Saints a 3-0 lead. A wild pitch scored Fisher from third increasing the lead to 4-0.

Saints starter Dereck Rodríguez retired the first six batters he faced before running into a little trouble in the third. He walked the first two hitters and gave up a one out single to Lorenzo Cedrola. Rodríguez, however, would strike out TJ Friedl and get Alejo Lopez to ground out to end the inning. Rodríguez went 4.0 shutout innings allowing one hit while walking two and striking out five. The Saints starters have gone 16.2 innings allowing just three runs.

The Saints doubled their fun in the fifth, collecting three doubles. Fisher led off with a double down the right field line. Daniel Robertson doubled to left-center scoring Fisher putting the Saints up 5-0. With one out, Jermaine Palacios doubled over the leaping third baseman, Michael De Leon, scoring Robertson to make it 6-0 Saints. David Bañuelos reached on a throwing error from the shortstop Riddle that allowed Palacios to score and the Saints found themselves up 7-0.

The Bats got on the board in the sixth off of Drew Strotman when Lorenzo Cedrola led off with a double to right-center. He moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jake Bauers to make it 7-1.

The same two teams meet in game five of the six-game series on Saturday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. (central). The Saints send LHP Devin Smeltzer (NR) to the mound against Bats LHP Jacques Pucheu (NR). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM and seen on MiLB.TV.

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International League Stories from April 8, 2022


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