AA St. Paul Saints

Saints Give Up Unlucky 13, Lose by 10 to Explorers

Published on June 17, 2009 under American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


SIOUX CITY, IA (June 17, 2009) - Usually when St. Paul Saints starter Charlie Ruud is pitching in the eighth inning that's a good sign. Not on Wednesday night as he came in for mop up duty as the Saints lost 13-3 to the Sioux City Explorers at Lewis and Clark Park.

The Explorers came out in the first inning and put up a three spot. Saints starter Mitch Wylie walked lead off hitter Dustin Jones and followed that up with a walk to Nick McCoola. Anthony Webster drove in the first run with a double and Justin Nelson followed with a two-run single giving the Explorers a 3-0 lead.

The Saints, however, got it all back in the fourth. Tony Mansolino led off with an infield single and Todd Self followed with a double off the wall in left moving Mansolino to third. Jake Butler then doubled home Mansolino making it 3-1. Brent Krause then stepped up and hit a grounder down the third base line that Landon Camp fielded, looked like he was going to throw to third, but instead threw to first not in time to get Krause. The problem, however, was one umpire ruled a foul ball another a fair ball. The umpires convened and ruled it a foul ball. Saints manager George Tsamis came out to argue and was tossed. Krause then hit a sacrifice fly and Daron Roberts followed with an RBI single tying the game at three.

The Explorers quickly answered in the fourth when Alex Llanos singles, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Schermerhorn. Jones singles Llanos to third and then Nick McCoola laid down a squeeze bunt scoring Llanos making it 4-3.

The game was blown open in the fifth as the Explorers sent 14 men to the plate and scored nine runs, one shy of a Saints franchise record for most runs given up in an inning. Wylie faced the first seven batters of the inning and gave up three singles, a double and a walk before giving way to Scott Vander Weg. He gave up a two-run single to the first hitter he faced, McCoola, and then walked the next four batters, three of them with the bases loaded. He then gave up a two-run single to Camp finishing off the scoring.

The Saints used Ruud out of the bullpen in the eighth and he promptly struck out two, leaving him two strikeouts shy of breaking the all-time Saints record.

The Saints take Thursday off and return home Friday night to take on the Wichita Wingnuts in the first game of a three game series at 7:05 p.m. Both teams are TBA. It is Push Up or Shut Up! presented by the US Army. The game can be seen on the Saints Cable Network (check saintsbaseball.com for the channel in your area) and heard live on Relevant Radio 1330.

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American Association Stories from June 17, 2009


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