Saints Tie Game In Ninth, But Lose 7-6 In 12 To Clippers

COLUMBUS, OH (May 10, 2022) - The St. Paul Saints showed a lot of fight against the best home team in the league. Down two in the bottom of the ninth they tied the game up. Unfortunately, they couldn’t quite get it done in extra innings losing 7-6 to the Columbus Clippers on Tuesday night at Huntington Park. The loss drops the Saints to 15-14.

In the top of the ninth with the Saints down 5-3 they tied it when the first four batters reached. Cole Sturgeon led off with a walk. Jermaine Palacios doubled him to third. Back-to-back RBI singles from Derek Fisher and Caleb Hamilton tied the game at five.

The Saint took the lead in the 10th when Jake Cave singled home the placed runner, Ernie Yake, putting the Saints up 6-5.

The Clippers knotted it up in the bottom of the inning as Mitchell Tolman sacrificed over the placed runner, Alford. Alex Call’s sacrifice fly made it 6-6.

Neither team scored in the 11th and the Saints failed to score in the top of the 12th. In the bottom of the 12th, Will Benson pinch ran for the placed runner Bryan Lavastida. The Saints elected to intentionally walk Oscar Gonzalez. Anthony Alford struck out and Mitchell Tolman fouled out to the catcher. Call, however, came through with a game winning RBI double.

The bottom of the order cashed in for the Saints in the third with three consecutive singles. Hamilton led off with a single to left-center. Roy Morales, in his first Triple-A at bat, singled to right putting runners at first and second. Ernie Yake collected his first Triple-A RBI with a single to left-center scoring Hamilton giving the Saints a 1-0 lead.

The Guardians tied the game at one in the fourth on a solo homer from Alford, his first of the game and third of the season.

The Clippers grabbed the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Trenton Brooks reached on a hit by pitch to leadoff the inning. A couple of fielder’s choices later and the Saints went to the bullpen for JC Ramirez. Richie Palacios stole second and scored on a double from Tyler Fermin putting the Saints in a 2-1 hole.

Alford came calling again for the Clippers with his second homer of the game, and fourth of the season, increasing the lead to 3-1.

The Saints used a long ball of their own to tie the game up in the seventh. Palacios led off the inning with a single to left and, with one out, Hamilton blasted a two-run homer to right, his second of the season, tying the game at three. Hamilton finished with a career high four hits going 4-5 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored.

It didn’t stay tied for long as the Clippers scored two in the bottom of the inning off. With one out, Palacios and Freeman had back-to-back doubles giving the Clippers a 4-3 lead. With two outs, Oscar Gonzalez made it 5-3 with an RBI single to right.

The same two teams meet in game two of the six-game series on Wednesday night at 6:05 p.m. (CT) at Huntington Park. The Saints send RHP Chi Chi González (2-1, 4.87) against Clippers RHP Peyton Battenfield (2-2, 2.81). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.