Stripers See Early Leads Slip Away in St. Paul

Gwinnett’s 3-0 and 4-3 leads don’t hold in 11-5 loss to the Saints

Eddie Rosario slides into third base on his triple in the third inning on Friday night. (Lauren Dale)

By Dave Lezotte (@davelezotte)

July 5, 2024

ST. PAUL, Minnesota – The Gwinnett Stripers (4-6) held leads of 3-0 and 4-3 on Friday night, but the St. Paul Saints (5-5) scored eight runs over the final four innings to win 11-5 at CHS Field. Andrew Velazquez homered and drove in three runs in the losing cause. Decisive

ST. PAUL, Minnesota – The Gwinnett Stripers (4-6) held leads of 3-0 and 4-3 on Friday night, but the St. Paul Saints (5-5) scored eight runs over the final four innings to win 11-5 at CHS Field. Andrew Velazquez homered and drove in three runs in the losing cause.

Decisive Plays: A two-run single by Velazquez and RBI single by Drake Baldwin staked the Stripers to a 3-0 lead against Adam Plutko (W, 3-1) in the second inning, but St. Paul quickly tied it on Anthony Prato’s three-run triple off Dylan Dodd in the bottom of the second. Gwinnett went back ahead 4-3 on Luke Waddell’s sacrifice fly scoring Eddie Rosario in the third. Chris Williams took over for the Saints from there, tying the game with a solo homer off Dodd in the fourth and delivering a go-ahead two-run single off Jackson Stephens (L, 1-4) in the sixth. Williams homered again in the seventh, and Edouard Julien iced the game with a three-run clout in the eighth. Velazquez’s homer (10) in the ninth trimmed the deficit to 11-5.

Key Contributors: Velazquez (2-for-4, homer, 3 RBIs) and Nacho Alvarez Jr. (2-for-5) each had multi-hit games for the Stripers. Williams went 3-for-3 with two homers and four RBIs for the Saints. Plutko allowed four runs on six hits over 6.0 innings to get the win for St. Paul.

Noteworthy: Brian Anderson, starting a rehab assignment for the Atlanta Braves, went 0-for-4 with a walk as the designated hitter. Rosario, in his first game back with the Braves organization after signing as a minor league free agent earlier in the day, went 1-for-4 with a triple. Alvarez has 10 multi-hit games in just 19 Triple-A contests.

Next Game (Saturday, July 6): Gwinnett at St. Paul, 7:37 p.m. ET at CHS Park. Broadcast: 7:20 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com. RHP Allan Winans (4-3, 3.01 ERA) for the Stripers vs. LHP Aaron Rozek (0-0, 18.69 ERA) for the Saints.

Next Home Game (Tuesday, July 9): Gwinnett vs. Jacksonville, 7:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. Broadcast: 6:50 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com and Bally Live. It is Coolray T-Shirt Tuesday at Coolray Field, as the first 500 fans to the ballpark will receive a Spencer Strider Stripers shirsey.