AA St. Paul Saints

Two out Base Hits, Solid Pitching Lead Saints to 3-1 Victory

Published on May 25, 2011 under American Association (AA)
St. Paul Saints News Release


ST. PAUL, MN (May 25, 2011) - The St. Paul Saints said good-bye to Midway Stadium for a couple of weeks, but not before beating the Fort Worth Cats 3-1 in front of 4,091.

For the second consecutive night the Saints got great starting pitching this time from Kyle Zaleski. He hurled 6.0 innings allowing one unearned run on five hits while walking two and striking out five. The only run he allowed came in the sixth when Travis Metcalf reached on an error by Jason Cooper when he dropped a throw from shortstop Adam Frost. Back-to-back singles by Trent Lockwood and John Allen loaded the bases. Zaleski got Kelley Gulledge to hit a shallow fly ball to right which prevented any runners from advancing. Derek Kinzler hit a fly ball deep enough to left which scored Metcalf and Zaleski got out of the inning by getting Corey Morales to fly out to right.

Zaleski got out of a couple of other jams during the night. With the bases loaded and two outs in the second he struck out Jeremy Sauceda to end the inning. In the fourth with runners at first and third and nobody out he struck out Derek Kinzler and got Morales to hit into an inning ending double play.

The Saints offense produced against a pitcher they had never beaten, Joel Kirsten. In his career against the Saints Kirsten was 1-0 with a 1.73 ERA in three regular season games dating back to 2006 and 2-0 with a 2.22 ERA in three playoff games in '06 and '07. In the second inning Richard Mercado walked and moved to third on a single from Ronnie Bourquin. Frost drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center.

In the third Cooper doubled to right and with two outs Brandon Tripp drove in his first run of the night with a single to right to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.

Tripp came calling again with two outs in the fifth. Shane Costa led off with a double to right, moved to third on a fly out by Cooper and scored on a two-out single from Tripp. He finished the night 3-4 with two RBI.

The Saints bullpen did the rest with Kyle Foster pitching 2.0 scoreless innings giving up one hit and striking out three while Robert Manuel earned his third save of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth.

The Saints have Thursday off before embarking on a 13-game roadtrip that begins Friday night against the Kansas City T-Bones at Community America Ballpark at 7:05 p.m. The Saints send RHP Jake Schmidt (1-0, 3.18) to the mound against T-Bones RHP Mike Rocco (0-2, 9.26). The game can be heard live on Relevant Radio 1330.

Check out the St. Paul Saints Statistics

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



American Association Stories from May 25, 2011


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