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AA St. Paul Saints

Texas Tyrannizes St. Paul: Allow Season-High 20 Hits, Suffering 14-9 Loss

July 28, 2018 - American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - The St. Paul Saints entered the evening looking to build on their recent hot stretch, but instead saw a six-game home winning streak come to a skidding halt. In front of a crowd of 8,973 on Saturday night at CHS Field, the Saints gave up a season-high 20 hits, as the Texas AirHogs scored in six consecutive innings, claiming a 14-9 game two victory. The loss drops the Saints to 36-29 and into third place, a half game out of the second playoff spot, in the American Association North Division standings.

Starting pitcher Jake Matthys, who was coming off of two dominant starts against the top two offenses in the league, was tagged for five runs over 3.0 innings. Reliever Ryan Schlosser was the next man up and received a similar treatment from the AirHogs bats, allowing seven runs (six earned) in his 2.0 innings. The final two runs were unearned as the Saints tied a season-high by committing three errors.

Entering the game as the lowest scoring team in the league, every AirHogs batter recorded a hit and all but one scored a run. In fact, entering the evening the AirHogs had not recorded more than 14 hits in a single game. Outfielder Dillon Thomas led the team with a game-high four base knocks, including a pair of home runs and doubles while driving in four. Fellow outfielder Lu Zhenhong, infielder Correll Prime and designated hitter Chen Jupeng all chipped in with three hits apiece and combined for five runs batted in.

Offensively, the Saints bats awakened after tying a season-low in hits on Friday. Outfielder Burt Reynolds drove in the first two runs of the game with a triple down the left-field line and the Saints held a 3-2 lead after two thanks to an RBI double in the second from outfielder Nathaniel Maggio. However, the Saints hitters were unable to keep pace with the AirHogs, who plated two or more runs from the second through the fifth innings.

The Saints tried to muster a late rally behind a four-run seventh, but eventually came up short. Designated hitter Matt Snyder had his first big night as a Saint, going 3-4 with a double and driving in three while scoring twice. Outfielder Max Murphy extended his season-high hitting streak to 12 games with a two-RBI double in the fourth. Both Reynolds and Maggio had multi-hit performances.

One of the lone bright spots on the mound was reliever Ken Frosch, who tossed a three-up, three-down eighth inning, extending his scoreless innings streak to 27.1. He remains second all-time and just 2.1 innings shy of Caleb Thielbar's franchise record set in 2011. Frosch also tied a career-high for consecutive days pitched as tonight marked his fourth appearance in a row.

The same two teams meet Sunday evening at CHS Field for the rubber game of the three-game series at 5:05 p.m. The Saints send RHP Matt Solter (1-4, 4.77) to the mound against AirHogs RHP Gan Quan (0-5, 3.57). It is Viva Los Santos night presented by Burrito Mercado. The game can be seen on the Saints Cable Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities area, and heard on Alt 93.3 FM.

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