IL St. Paul Saints

Saints Won't be Caught on this Night, Blast I-Cubs 13-3

Published on May 31, 2022 under International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


DES MOINES, IA - No Alex Kirilloff. No Mark Contreras. No Jermaine Palacios. No problem. The St. Paul Saints were forced to start all four catchers on their roster Tuesday night at Principal Park. One of them, Caleb Hamilton, was forced to leave when he took a line drive off his leg from his own teammate. Pitchers were forced to hit. Guys played positions they had never played before. In the end it didn't matter as the Saints beat up on the Iowa Cubs 13-3.

The Iowa Cubs jumped on the board first in the bottom of the first. Darius Hill, making his Triple-A debut, jumped on the first pitch from Jordan Balazovic for a leadoff home run, his first of the season, making it 1-0. Back-to-back walks and a throwing error by second baseman Spencer Steer loaded the bases. With one out, Jared Young's groundout to second scored a run increasing the I-Cubs lead to 2-0.

The Saints wasted little time answering as Hamilton doubled off the wall in right-center with one out. Roy Morales knocked home Hamilton with a single to right-center cutting the deficit to 2-1. David Bañuelos gave the Saints the lead with one swing of the bat, a two-run homer to left, his fourth of the season, giving them a 3-2 lead.

The I-Cubs used the long ball to tie the game up in the third when John Hicks hit a solo homer to left, his fifth of the season.

That's when the Saints poured it on offensively and scored the next 10 runs, seven of them in the fourth, tying their highest scoring inning of the season. Three walks loaded the bases and Steer unloaded them with a double down the line putting the Saints up 6-3. Jake Cave extended his hitting streak to 12 straight with a single to right, moving Steer to third. Michael Helman's grounder to third went off the glove of David Bote and into shallow left as the error plated Steer putting the Saints up 7-3. José Godoy followed that with a three-run homer to right, his first of the season, increasing the lead to 10-3.

The Saints put the finishing touches on their impressive evening in the ninth. With two outs, Bañuelos singled. Steer doubled him to third. Steer finished the night 3-5 with two doubles, three RBI and two runs scored. Cave drove home both runners with a double to right making it 12-3. Cave went 3-6 with a double, two RBI, and two runs scored. An error on a ball hit by Curtis Terry extended the inning, and an RBI double by Helman, his first Triple-A hit and RBI, scored Cave, capping off the 10-run victory, tying the largest margin this season. They defeated the Louisville Bats 11-1 on April 9.

The same two teams meet in game two of a six-game series on Wednesday afternoon at 12:08 p.m. The Saints send RHP Chi Chi González (0-0, 5.40) to the mound against I-Cubs RHP Cam Sanders (0-1, 3.65). The game can be seen on MiLB.TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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International League Stories from May 31, 2022


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