Indians Fall to Saints on Opening Night

INDIANAPOLIS – Konnor Griffin recorded his first Triple-A hit and Endy Rodríguez went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI as the Indianapolis Indians fell to the St. Paul Saints 4-2 on Friday night at Victory Field.

After Indians Opening Night starter Noah Davis (L, 0-1) recorded the first out in the top of the first inning, four straight Saints (1-0) batters reached with Alan Roden driving home a pair of runs on a single up the middle. With two outs, Eric Wagaman drove home the third run of the frame.

The Indians (0-1), rallied for a run in the bottom half of the first. Griffin drew a leadoff walk in his first Triple-A at-bat and later stole second base. After a walk to Jhostynxon Garcia with one out, Rodríguez singled up the middle to plate Griffin for the first Indy run of the season.

St. Paul added another run off Davis in the fifth inning, with an RBI single from Kaelen Culpepper to put the team up, 4-1. Davis finished the night with 5.0 innings, six hits, four runs, two walks and four strikeouts.

Griffin nabbed his first Triple-A hit with a leadoff single in the sixth inning, and Rodríguez plated him again with a single to cut the deficit, 4-2.

Saints left-hander Connor Prielipp opened the game with 4.0 innings of one-run ball, bridging to Raul Brito (W, 1-0) with 2.2 innings with one run in relief. Matt Bowman (S, 1) recorded the final three outs of the game.

The Indians continue their three-game homestand with St. Paul on Saturday at 4:05 PM ET. LHP Nick Dombkowski (0-0, -.--) takes the mound for Indianapolis while RHP Zebby Matthews starts for St. Paul.