Varland Dominates, Saints Blank Bats In Under Two Hours, 4-0

ST. PAUL, MN (May 3, 2024) - Louie Varland pitched as if he had somewhere to be. If he continues to pitch like he has in his first two starts for the St. Paul Saints, the next place he’ll be is back up with the Minnesota Twins. He dominated the Louisville Bats over 7.0 innings as the Saints got their third shutout of the season, a 4-0 five-hit blanking in one hour and 54-minutes on Friday night at CHS Field in front of 5,132. The win improves the Saints to 12-17 on the season.

Varland retired the first seven men he faced before giving up an infield single to Levi Jordan that glanced off the foot of Varland and trickled behind him. After that single, he retired the next eight men he faced.

Meanwhile, Bats starter Brett Kennedy was equally as good, if not better. Kennedy gave up a two out bloop single to Matt Wallner in the first. After that base hit, he retired the next 14.

In the sixth, Varland showed a little bit of a crack on an epic night. The Bats started the inning with back-to-back singles by Jordan and Eric González, but Varland then got Major League rehabber TJ Friedl to ground into a double play and struck out Rece Hinds looking to end the inning.

The Saints finally broke the scoreless game in the sixth. With one out Yoyner Fajardo sent a ground ball into center field for a single. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. then doubled to center that sent Fajardo to third. A sacrifice fly from Anthony Prato gave the Saints a 1-0 lead. A passed ball scored Keirsey Jr. from third increasing the lead to 2-0. Matt Wallner then deposited a solo homer to left, his second in as many nights and third of the season, making it 3-0.

Varland finished off his night with a perfect seventh inning while striking out two. He went 7.0 shutout innings allowing just three singles and striking out eight. He threw 77 pitches, 54 for strikes.

In the bottom of the seventh the Saints added an insurance run. Yunior Severino led off with a triple to right when the right fielder Hinds lost the ball in the lights and the ball glanced off his wrist and caromed into right-center. With one out, Tony Kemp’s groundout scored Severino giving the Saints a 4-0 lead.

Major League rehabber Justin Topa got the eighth for the Saints and was dominant. He fanned the first two hitters he faced and got the third hitter, Jordan, to bounce back to the mound. Topa went 1.0 perfect inning and fanned two while throwing 13 pitches, nine for strikes.

Diego Castillo finished off the shutout for the Saints. He gave up a leadoff single to González and a one out single to Hinds that put runners at first and second. Castillo would get Livan Soto to fly out to center and fanned P.J. Higgins to end the game. Castillo threw 10 pitches in the ninth, all for strikes.

The three Saints pitchers threw 100 pitches, 73 for strikes.

The one hour and 54-minute game was the second fastest nine inning game in franchise history, only bested by a one hour, 46-minute, 2-1 loss to the Columbus Clippers at Huntington Park on May 18, 2023.

The same two teams meet in game five of a six-game series on Saturday afternoon at 2:07 p.m. The Saints send RHP Randy Dobnak (1-3, 5.96) to the mound against Bats RHP Christian Roa (0-0, 4.50). The game can be seen on the Saints Broadcast Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities, MLB.TV, MiLB.TV, and the Bally Live app, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.