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AA St. Paul Saints

Saints Take Extra-Innings Gut Punch, Drop Fourth in a Row 2-1 in 11 to T-Bones

July 28, 2019 - American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - After mustering only four runs over three games against the Cleburne Railroaders, the St. Paul Saints' offense was once again inept in a 2-1 loss to the Kansas City T-Bones in 11 innings. The Saints only cobbled together seven hits and blew a ninth-inning lead in front of 8,951 at CHS Field. The defeat drops St. Paul to 40-25 on the season.

Needing a starter for the series opener, George Tsamis turned to the bullpen for left-hander Jordan Jess. In what was the 26-year-old's first professional start, he dazzled. He went 5.0 hitless, scoreless innnings. His off-speed pitches were unhittable all night and helped him strike out a career-high eight. Jess was taken out after throwing 61 pitches, 43 of which were strikes.

The Saints offense did manage to hand Jess an early lead. In the bottom of the second, Jeremy Martinez ripped a solo homer to right, his seventh of the season, to make it a 1-0 game.

In turn, Perrin also turned in an outstanding start for Kansas City. He yielded just the one run on four hits over 7.0-innings. The only time he was really in trouble was in the third. Chesny Young singled to extend his hitting streak to 11-games. Dan Motl and Brady Shoemaker would later walk to load the bases with two out. John Silviano, however, struck out swinging to end the threat.

Karch Kowalczyk and Mike Devine combined to hand the Saints 3.0-shutout innings of relief after Jess left the game. Despite doing virtually nothing on offense all night, their work allowed St. Paul to take a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning. There, Todd Van Steensel blew his fourth save of the season. Former Big-Leaguer Daniel Nava led off the frame with a single down the first base line just passed Silviano. Then, Van Steensel got Chris Colabello to line out to center and punched out Casey Gillaspie swinging. With two down, Tyler Marincov dropped a base-hit in front of Josh Romanski in right field. The ball checked up and kicked away from Romanski allowing Nava to take third, putting runners on the corners. The next batter, Danny Mars, took an 0-1 pitch back up the middle for a game-tying single. Christian Correa then followed with a dribbler back to the mound. Van Steensel slipped trying to field it and eventually threw to first from his back and Correa beat it out. On the play, Marincov got caught rounding third and while he tried scampering back to the bag, Silviano threw him out as to end the rally.

The Saints were set down in order in the ninth by Carlos Diaz to force extras. Ryan Smith got through a scoreless top of the 10th thanks to his defense. With the bases loaded and one out, Colabello flew out to Dan Motl in center. Motl then uncorked a perfect throw to the plate, where Ramsey Romano was tagged out by Martinez to keep the game tied.

After the Saints stranded the winning run in scoring position in the bottom of the 10th, the T-Bones finally struck again. Mars clubbed a solo shot into the left field bullpen off of Ken Frosch, his fourth of the season, to give Kansas City its first lead at 2-1. In the bottom half, Robert Calvano allowed a two-out single to Shoemaker, but then got Silviano to ground out sharply to second to end the ballgame.

The loss extends the Saints' losing streak to a season high four.

The two teams are back at it for game two of the three-game series Sunday at 5:05pm at CHS Field. LHP Henry Owens (2-2, 6.23) starts for the T-Bones, while the Saints counter with RHP Eddie Medina (6-1, 2.90). The Saints honor pigs of their past inducting The Great Hambino and Brat Favre into Monument Pork. The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a dual bobblehead of the two pigs. The game can be seen on 45TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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