Saints Fail To Cash In On Nine Free Passes In 4-1 Loss To Stripers
ST. PAUL, MN (July 6, 2024) - The St. Paul Saints took a patient approach at the plate on Saturday night at CHS Field. They drew nine walks against Gwinnett Stripers pitchers. Unfortunately, they managed just two hits, didn’t have a runner reach third after the first, and went 0-11
ST. PAUL, MN (July 6, 2024) - The St. Paul Saints took a patient approach at the plate on Saturday night at CHS Field. They drew nine walks against Gwinnett Stripers pitchers. Unfortunately, they managed just two hits, didn’t have a runner reach third after the first, and went 0-11 with runners in scoring position in a 4-1 loss in front of 7,020.
The Stripers grabbed the lead in the first. With two outs and nobody on Brian Anderson drew a walk. Yuli Gurriel lined a single to center moving Anderson to second. Eddie Rosario then lofted a fly ball towards the line in left. Chris Williams came charging after it, but as he got there the ball fell in and out of his glove for an error as a run scored giving the Stripers a 1-0 lead.
The Saints got the run back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of four walks, the last with the bases loaded to Williams tying the game at one.
Saints starter Aaron Rozek, who struggled in his first two appearances at Triple-A, was sold on Saturday night. He was the recipient of bad luck in the fourth when three balls that weren’t hit hard led to a run for the Stripers. With two outs and nobody on Sandy León dumped a 63.9 mph fly ball single into left. Andrew Velazquez 76.8 mph infield single to second put runners at first and second. That was followed by a 74.7 mph fly ball single into center by Nacho Alvarez Jr. that scored León giving the Stripers a 2-1 lead.
Drake Balwin gave the Stripers a 3-1 lead with a solo homer to left-center, his fourth of the season. Rozek went 5.0 solid innings allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits while walking three and striking out one.
The Stripers tacked on another run in the sixth as Luke Waddell led off with a single to right-center. He stole second and moved to third on a single to right-center by León. With one out an RBI fielders choice from Alvarez Jr. made it 4-1.
The Saints lone two hits were both leadoff doubles by Diego Castillo in the fourth and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. in the sixth, but neither one moved past second base.
Saturday night was the 29th time the Saints have drawn at least nine walks in franchise history and it’s the fewest runs they have scored in such situations. The Saints had never scored fewer than four runs when drawing nine walks and had scored seven or more runs in 26 of the 29 games. It was only the third loss when collecting nine walks.
The same two teams meet in the finale of the six-game series on Sunday afternoon at 2:07 p.m. at CHS Field. The Saints send RHP Randy Dobnak (7-5, 3.91) to the mound and the Stripers are TBA. The game can be seen on the CW Network, MLB.TV, MiLB.TV, and the Bally Live app, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.