Saints Intentionally Beat Up The Bats, 15-5
ST. PAUL, MN (August 4, 2026) - Matt Wallner had already hit a three-run homer in the game, so when he came up in a tie game with first base open, the Louisville Bats elected to intentionally walk him. That was a mistake because what followed were 10 unanswered runs
ST. PAUL, MN (August 4, 2026) - Matt Wallner had already hit a three-run homer in the game, so when he came up in a tie game with first base open, the Louisville Bats elected to intentionally walk him. That was a mistake because what followed were 10 unanswered runs by the Saints in their final two innings as they turned a tight game into a laugher, a 15-5 beating on Tuesday night in front of 6,946 at CHS Field.
The Saints pounded out 17 hits, with eight of nine collecting a hit, four different players having a three-hit night, eight of nine scoring a run, four different players blasting a home run, and six different players with an RBI, including three with three.
With the game tied at five in the seventh, Walker Jenkins flipped a one out double to left. He finished 3-5 with a double and two runs scored. With two outs the Bats intentionally walked Wallner to get to Aaron Sabato. He hit a hanging slider over the left field wall for a three-run homer, his 20th of the season, giving the Saints an 8-5 lead. Sabato joined Wallner in the 20 home run club, becoming the seventh player in Triple-A franchise history with at least 20 homers. The Saints weren’t done as Hendry Mendez and Gabby Gonzalez had back-to-back singles putting runners at the corners. A failed pickoff attempt at first scored Mendez and sent Gonzalez to second, upping the Saints lead to 9-5. After a pitching change, Cody Morissette doubled home Gonzalez and Ben Ross singled home Morissette pushing the lead to 11-5. Ross finished 3-4 with a home run, three RBI, and a run scored.
The exclamation point was put on in the eighth by the Saints. With one out Kaelen Culpepper tripled off the wall in left-center. He finished 3-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Wallner was then hit by a pitch. With two outs Mendez roped a two-run double to right-center, increasing the lead to 13-5. Gonzalez finished the scoring with a two-run blast to left, his 12th of the season and first in 29 games, making it 15-5. Gonzalez ended an 0-16 skid by collecting hits in his last three at bats and finishing 3-5, a triple shy of the cycle, two RBI, and two runs.
The Saints added three more runs to their baseball best 100 first innings runs. Jenkins led off the inning with a single to right-center and Culpepper walked. Wallner crushed a three-run homer to right, his 20th of the season, putting the Saints up 3-0. Wallner became the sixth player in Triple-A franchise history to hit at least 20 long balls in a season.
Four hits in the second got the Bats to within a run. Michael Toglia and Will Benson started the inning with back-to-back singles putting runners at first and second. With one out P.J. Higgins singled to left loading the bases. Will Banfield cut the Saints lead to 3-2 with a two-run single to right-center.
Ross grabbed one of the runs back with a solo homer off the batter’s eye in center field in the bottom of the inning, his 10th of the season, increasing the lead to 4-2.
Ross came through again in the fourth as Morissette walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Ross single putting the Saints up 5-2.
For the first time in 12 games the Bats scored more than three runs off the Saints. With two outs and nobody out Francisco Urbaez doubled down the third base line and Edwin Arroyo followed with a two-run homer to right-center, his 12th of the season, cutting the Saints lead to 5-4.
An error in the seventh proved costly for the Saints. P.J. Higgins led off by reaching on a throwing error by the third baseman Ross. Back-to-back singles from Banfield and Sam Haggerty loaded the bases. Urbaez tied the game at five with a sacrifice fly.
Woo-Suk Go, who received a 10-game suspension, that was reduced to eight, for a foreign substance on his glove in his Saints debut, actually threw a pitch on Tuesday. He went 1.0 hitless, scoreless inning while walking one.
The same two teams meet in game two of a six-game series on Wednesday afternoon at CHS Field at 1:07 p.m. The Saints send RHP Ryan Gallagher (4-5, 6.38) to the mound and the Bats are TBA. The game can be seen on the CW Twin Cities, MLB.TV, MiLB.com, and the Bally Sports Live app, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM, all presented by Northland Ford Dealers.