IL St. Paul Saints

Woods Richardson Impressive on Mound, Garlick Smashes Two Homers, Saints Cruise 10-3

Published on September 7, 2023 under International League (IL)
St. Paul Saints News Release


LOUISVILLE, KY - It was a collective effort on Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field for the St. Paul Saints. All nine hitters collected a hit, five had two hits, Kyle Garlick blasted two home runs, Gilberto Celestino had an inside-the-park home run, and Simeon Woods Richardson was masterful for 6.0 innings. It all added up to a 10-3 win over the Louisville Bats. The win improves the Saints to 35-25 in the second half.

On the heels of three first inning homers on Wednesday night, the Saints got a long ball in the first on Thursday night. With two outs Trevor Larnach walked and Garlick followed with a two-run homer to left, his first of the night and 13th of the season, making it 2-0.

For just the second time in Triple-A franchise history, the Saints hit a home run that didn't go over the wall. Jair Camargo led off the second inning with a walk and that brought up Celestino. He hit a deep drive to left that left fielder Jacob Hurtubise went back on and centerfielder Jose Barrero came over to help out with, but the ball hit off the top of the wall and ricocheted towards a vacated centerfield area as Celestino raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. It was Celestino's fourth home run of the season and made it 4-0. Dalton Shuffield had the only other inside-the-park home run in franchise history on September 20, 2022 at Indianapolis.

That was more the enough for Woods Richardson who was dominant. Through the first five innings he allowed just three base runners, a two-out single in the second, a two-out walk in the third, and a leadoff single in the fourth. He didn't allow any of those runners to reach second base.

The home runs continued for the Saints in the fifth as Garlick came calling again. Larnach led off with a walk and Garlick followed with a two-run blast to left, his second of the night and 14th of the season, putting the Saints up 6-0. Garlick finished the night 2-3 with two home runs, four RBI, and three runs scored. Back-to-back singles by Yunior Severino and Anthony Prato put runners at first and second. After a groundout moved the runners to second and third, Hernán Pérez dropped a two-out, two-run single into center increasing the lead to 8-0.

The Saints continued to pour it on in the sixth. With one out Larnach doubled and Garlick walked. With two outs Prato made it 9-0 with an RBI single to center. An infield single by Camargo loaded the bases and that was followed by a walk to Celestino that forced in a run making it 10-0.

The Bats finally got to Woods Richardson in the sixth when Jacob Hurtubise led off with a single and scored on a two-out double by Henry Ramos making it 10-1. Woods Richardson went 6.0 innings allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out five. He threw 86 pitches, 55 for strikes.

In the eighth, the Bats tacked on two more off two-way player Andrew Bechtold. After a perfect seventh inning, Bechtold gave up back-to-back walks with one out. With two outs, Ramos doubled home both runs cutting the Saints lead to 10-3.

The same two teams meet in game four of a six-game series on Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field at 6:15 p.m. (CT). The Saints send RHP Randy Dobnak (4-8, 4.84) to the mound against Bats RHP Brett Kennedy (4-2, 3.52). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

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International League Stories from September 7, 2023


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