IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Strand 12 Runners, Lose 7-3 to Storm Chasers

August 26, 2023 - International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


PAPILLION, NE - The St. Paul Saints were the most prolific team with the bases loaded in all of full-season baseball entering Saturday night. They had a 1.036 OPS and 11 grand slams with the bags full. None of that mattered against the Omaha Storm Chasers at Werner Park as they went 0-5 with the bases loaded, 1-12 with runners in scoring position, and left 12 men on base in a 7-3 loss. The loss drops the Saints to 29-21 in the second half.

In the first inning the Saints loaded the bases with one out on an Austin Martin hit by pitch and back-to-back walks to Brooks Lee and Trevor Larnach. Anthony Prato would strike out and Yunior Severino flew out to end the inning as the Saints came up empty.

The Storm Chasers used that momentum to plate three runs in the first. The first three hitters reached in the first inning as Bubba Thompson was hit by a pitch, Clay Dungan walked, and Edward Olivares made it 1-0 with an RBI double to right. With one out, John Rave singled to right driving in a pair increasing the lead to 3-0.

The Saints finally got on the board in the fifth with three straight two-out hits. Andrew Stevenson and Martin both singled to right and Lee cut the deficit to 3-2 with a two-run double to right.

In the sixth, the Storm Chasers grabbed those two runs back as Olivares led off with a single to left and Nick Loftin followed with a two-run homer to left, his 14th of the season, increasing the lead to 5-2.

The Saints had a golden opportunity in the seventh loading the bases with nobody out on a walk to Stevenson, a single by Martin, and a walk to Lee. The Storm Chasers went to their bullpen for left-hander Evan Sisk. He struck out Larnach looking, fanned Prato swinging, and got Severino to ground out to second.

For the second time in the game the Storm Chasers scored in the half inning after the Saints failed to score with the bases loaded. Back-to-back walks to Thompson and Dungan started the inning. After a double steal, a one out sacrifice fly from Loftin made it 6-2.

Hernán Pérez kept up his blistering roadtrip, hitting a solo homer to left in the eighth, his third in his last two games and eighth of the season, cutting the deficit to 6-3.

The Storm Chasers grabbed the run back in the bottom of the inning. With a man at first and one out, CJ Alexander hit a spinning ground ball that hit fair behind rolled past the bag and spun away from Brooks Lee into foul territory for a double. Angelo Castellano's sacrifice fly gave the Storm Chasers an insurance run with a 7-3 lead.

The same two teams meet in the finale of the six-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. at Werner Park. The Saints are TBA and the Storm Chasers send RHP Max Castillo (4-6, 5.11) to the mound. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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International League Stories from August 26, 2023


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