Major League Rehabbers Help Lead Saints To 4-2 Victory Over Mud Hens

_ST. PAUL, MN _*(September 19, 2023) - *Not one. Not two. Not three. Not four. Five. Five Major League rehabbers were in the lineup or on the mound for the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday night at CHS Field. Major League rehabber Chris Paddack led the way on the mound tossing 3.0 shutout innings of relief as the Saints took down the Toledo Mud Hens 4-2 in front of 6,741. The Saints improved to 38-32 in the second half.

Hunter McMahon got the start for the Saints as an opener and got out of a bases loaded jam with one out in the first by getting a ground ball double play to end the inning, one of four on the night for the Saints.

The Saints grabbed the lead in the second when Yunior Severino led off with a walk and, with one out, Jair Camargo crushed a two-run homer to right-center, his 20^th of the season. Camargo became just the third player in franchise history to hit 20 homers in a season joining Brent Rooker (2021) and Chris Williams (2023).

Paddack took over in the third after a scoreless inning of relief from Austin Schulfer in the second. The only trouble Paddack ran into was in his first inning of relief. With one out the Mud Hens loaded the bases on a walk to Nick Solak and back-to-back singles by Colt Keith and Eddys Leonard. Paddack came back to strike out Nick Maton and Ryan Kreidler to end the inning.

Paddack retired the last eight batters he faced, tossing a perfect fourth and fifth innings. He went 3.0 scoreless allowing two hits while walking one and striking out five. He threw 45 pitches, 30 for strikes and averaged 96.8 miles per hour on the fastball while topping out at 98.2. He also got six swings and misses on 10 changeups.

In the fifth the Saints doubled their lead. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. led off the inning with a bunt single to second and that was followed by a hit by pitch of Major League rehabber Nick Gordon. Gordon finished the night 2-3 with a double and a run scored. With one out, back-to-back RBI singles by Major League rehabber Joey Gallo and Trevor Larnach gave the Saints a 4-0 lead. Gallo finished the night 1-3 with an RBI and a walk. Larnach went 3-4 with an RBI.

After a perfect sixth inning with two strikeouts from Michael Boyle, Major League rehabber Brock Stewart took over in the seventh. He walked one, but retired the other three hitters he faced with one strikeout. Stewart threw 17 pitches, 10 for strikes. Of his 10 pitches, five were fastballs that averaged 97.3 miles per hour and topping out at 98.9 miles per hour.

Major League rehabber Jorge Alcala tossed a scoreless eighth giving up a leadoff single before inducing a double play on a comebacker and getting a lineout to third to end the inning. He threw seven pitches, six for strikes.

Jordan Balazovic pitched the ninth and nearly completed the shutout. After back-to-back walks to start the inning, Justice Bigbie lined into a double play. Dillon Dingler, however, took the first pitch he saw and hit a two-run homer to right, his third of the season, making it 4-2. Balazovic would strikeout Alvaro Gonzalez to end the game.

The same two teams meet in game two of a six-game series at CHS Field on Wednesday night at 6:37 p.m. The Saints send RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (6-6, 4.92) to the mound and the Mud Hens RHP Spencer Turnbull (0-1, 7.50). The game can be seen on the Saints Broadcast Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities, the Bally Live app (free), and MiLB.TV (subscription), and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.