AA St. Paul Saints

Saints Score Five Off League's Best Pitcher, Still Lose Fifth Straight 8-6

Published on July 19, 2009 under American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


PENSACOLA, FL (July 19, 2009) - A lot is going to need to change for the St. Paul Saints as they head into the All-Star break. They managed to score five runs off the leagues best pitcher, but still lost 8-6 on Sunday night at Jim Spooner Field at Pelican Park, their fifth straight defeat tying their longest skid of the season.

The Saints got to Kyle Middleton, who came in with a 1.57 ERA, in the first inning. With Jason Cooper at first and two outs Brent Krause was hit by a pitch and Josh Alley singled off the glove of second baseman Antoin Gray, scoring Cooper from second and giving the Saints a 1-0 lead.

With the game tied at one in the third the Saints took advantage of a Pelican miscue. Cooper led off by popping the ball up on the infield and Middleton tried to make a play on the ball, but first baseman Adam Deleo came charging in, crashed into Middleton and dropped the ball allowing Cooper to reach second on the first baseman's error. Krause followed with a walk and Alley singled home Cooper. One out later Andrew Schmiesing scored Krause with a single to right and Scott Knazek laid down a suicide squeeze giving the Saints a 4-1 lead.

The lead didn't hold, however, as the Pelicans took a 5-4 lead in the fourth. Lou Palmisano led off with a single to left-center and Rafael Alvarez followed with a walk. Deleo laid down a sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third and Dallas Christison singled home a run to make it 4-2. Adam Darby then launched a three-run homer to right, his second in as many nights and third of the season, to finish the scoring in the inning.

The Saints tied it in the fifth when Krause reached on an infield single to short and went to third on Alley's single to right. Alley finished the night 3-3 with two RBI. Jake Butler's sacrifice fly scored Krause.

The Pelicans, as they did all series long, answered right back in the bottom of the fifth when Palmisano led off with a double and Alvarez singled off the glove of second baseman Alex Fonseca, scoring Palmisano and giving the Pelicans a 6-5 lead. Deleo singled off of Steve Butler's glove at third sending Alvarez to third and Christison's fielder's choice scored Alvarez.

The teams traded runs late, an RBI single by Marcos Rodriguez for the Pelicans in the eighth and an RBI ground out by Krause in the ninth, but the Saints got no closer.

The Saints have three days off for the All-Star break and are back at it on Thursday night for a three game series against the Lincoln Saltdogs at 7:05 p.m. at Midway Stadium. The game can be seen live on the Saints Cable Network (check saintsbaseball.com for the channel in your area) and heard live on Relevant Radio 1330. It is twitter-my-face night presented by State Farm Insurance.

Check out the St. Paul Saints Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Association Stories from July 19, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central