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IL St. Paul Saints

Saints' Pitching Silence Indianapolis Bats in 4-1 Victory

August 17, 2023 - International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - Since becoming the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins in 2021, the St. Paul Saints have dropped the first two games of a series at CHS Field to just one team, the Indianapolis Indians, who have accomplished the feat three times including the first two games of the current series. No team had ever won the first three games of a series at CHS Field and the Saints made sure it didn't happen on Thursday night. The pitching staff was remarkable in a 4-1 victory at CHS Field in front of 7,002. The win improves the Saints to 24-18 in the second half.

The Saints got on the board in the first when Brooks Lee walked, moved to third on a single by Anthony Prato, and scored on a Kyle Garlick double making it 1-0.

In the second, the Saints added two more runs to their ledger. Gilberto Celestino led off with a walk and that was followed by a single to left by DaShawn Keirsey Jr. With one out Austin Martin grounded into a fielder's choice that put runners at the corners. Lee came through with a double down the third base line that scored both runs giving the Saints a 3-0 lead. With the double, Lee extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Blayne Enlow got the start for the Saints and was scheduled to go just a couple of innings. He made the most of those two, retiring all six batters he faced while striking out three on 23 pitches, 16 for strikes.

Patrick Murphy took over in the third and was dominant. He allowed a two-out single to Grant Koch in the third and a leadoff single to Chris Owings in the sixth. Outside of that, Murphy retired every other hitter going 4.0 shutout innings allowing two hits while striking out four.

Prato gave the Saints a 4-0 lead in the fifth with a solo homer to straightaway center, his eighth of the season. Prato finished the night 3-4 with a home run, RBI, and a run scored.

In the seventh Ronny Henriquez, who hadn't allowed a run in his last 6.1 innings, allowed a couple of hits, but got out of the inning unscathed while striking out one.

Saints two-way player Andrew Bechtold pitched the eighth and struck out the leadoff hitter, Owings. After Koch walked, Nick Gonzales lined out to center. Canaan Smith-Njigba doubled home Koch cutting the Saints lead to 4-1. The Saints went to their bullpen for Kody Funderburk, who ended the inning on a lineout by Miguel Andujar.

Funderburk finished off the game with a perfect ninth, including striking out the final hitter of the game, Aaron Shackelford. That strikeout allowed Funderburk to keep his streak alive of at least one strikeout in all 34 relief appearances this season. He went 1.1 perfect innings with one strikeout while picking up his fourth save.

The same two teams meet in game four of a six-game series on Friday night at CHS Field at 7:07 p.m. The Saints are TBA and the Indians send RHP Luis Ortiz (4-4, 4.15) to the mound. The game can be seen on the Saints Broadcast Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities, the Bally Live app (free), and MiLB.TV (subscription), and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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