IL St. Paul Saints

Toby Gardenhire Wins 200th as Saints Manager as Varland Dominates in 7-2 Victory

Published on July 30, 2023 under International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN - When Toby Gardenhire earned win 100 as a Saints manager he wasn't even in attendance due to the birth of his son, Bodie. This time St. Paul Saints manager was in the dugout for a milestone victory, winning his 200th at the helm of the Triple-A club on Sunday afternoon at CHS Field. Louie Varland provided the dominant effort on the mound and the bats blasted three home runs in a 7-2 victory over the Toledo Mud Hens in front of 8,212. The win improves the Saints to 16-11 in the second half.

The Saints used back-to-back home runs in the first to jump out to the lead. Anthony Prato led off the inning by reaching on a two base throwing error from second baseman Winceel Pérez. Trevor Larnach followed with a two-run, 444-foot home run to right-center, his ninth of the season, giving the Saints a 2-0 lead. The next hitter, Kyle Garlick, clubbed a solo homer off the batters eye in center, his 11th of the season, increasing the lead to 3-0. It was the fifth time this season the Saints have gone back-to-back.

Varland faced the minimum through the first three innings. He gave up a one out single to Justyn-Henry Malloy in the first, but he was caught taking too big of a turn at first and was thrown out. In the second, Varland walked Pérez, but got a strike out, throw out double play to end the inning. Varland then struck out the side in the third.

In the bottom of the third the Saints doubled their run output with one swing of the bat. With two outs and nobody on Austin Martin singled to right and Ernie Yake reached on a throwing error by Pérez. That gave Alex De Goti the opportunity to step to the plate and he didn't waste his chance. De Goti slugged a three-run homer to left, his first with the Saints and second of the season, making it 6-0.

The lone mistake Varland made came in the fourth on a solo homer to right by Parker Meadows, his 16th of the season, making it 6-1. Varland went 6.0 innings allowing one run on two hits while walking one and striking out seven.

Andrew Bechtold, in his seventh appearance on the mound as he becomes a two-way player, gave up a solo homer to Joe Rizzo in the eighth, his fifth of the season, that cut the Saints lead to 6-2. Bechtold went 0.2 inning allowing one run on two hits.

The Saints put the finishing touches on their afternoon in the eighth when Prato led off with a double and scored on a one out double by Garlick made it 7-2. Prato finished the day 2-3 with two doubles and two runs scored while Garlick was 2-5 with a home run, two RBI, and a run scored.

The Saints are off on Monday and return to action on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m. (CT) against the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Guardians) at Huntington Park. The Saints send LHP Brent Headrick (3-1, 4.13) to the mound against Clippers RHP Zach Plesak (2-4, 6.18). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

Check out the St. Paul Saints Statistics

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



International League Stories from July 30, 2023


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