Saints Can't Hold Early Lead, Fall To Clippers 5-3

ST. PAUL, MN (July 16, 2021) - The St. Paul Saints knew they were short on arms Friday night at CHS Field. With starter Josh Winder on a pitch count and limited arms available in the bullpen, getting to the finish line was going to be difficult. That rang true as the Saints built an early 3-0 lead, but couldn’t hold on in a 5-3 loss in front of 8,140 at CHS Field.

The Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second when Willians Astudillo led off with a double down the third base line. He moved to third on a groundout by Mark Contreras. Tomás Telis knocked home Astudillo with a single to right putting the Saints on top.

Winder, who was scheduled to go about 65 pitches, cruised early on, retiring the side in order in the first and facing the minimum through the first three, allowing just a leadoff single in the second that was erased on a double play.

In the bottom of the fourth, Mark Contreras led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. Two batters later Drew Maggi crushed a two-run homer over the left field wall, his ninth of the season, increasing the Saints lead to 3-0.

Winder retired the first batter of the fifth, but the Clippers finally got to him as Oscar Gonzalez followed with a single to right. Ryan Lavarnway then drilled a two-run homer to left, his eighth of the season, cutting the Saints lead to 3-2. Winder, who reached 62 pitches, departed the game following the home run. Winder went 4.1 innings allowing two runs on five hits while striking out two. Joe Harvey came on in relief and the first batter he faced, Connor Marabell, tied the game at three with a solo homer to left, his third of the season.

Harvey left the game with an injury after a couple of warm-up tosses in the sixth. Ian Gibaut took over and pitched 2.0 scoreless innings before running into trouble in the eighth.

In the top of the eighth the Clippers took the lead as Yu Chang led off with a single to center. Nolan Jones then singled up the middle sending Chang to third. Owen Miller’s sacrifice fly put the Clippers up 4-3 as Jones took second on the throw home. Wilson Ramos made it 5-3 with an RBI single to center. Gibaut went 3.0 innings allowing two runs on five hits while striking out two.

The same two teams meet in game five of the six-game series on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. The Saints send RHP Matt Shoemaker (0-0, 0.00) to the mound against Clippers RHP Heath Fillmyer (1-1, 4.67). The game can be seen on the Saints Broadcast Network, cable access channels in and around the Twins Cities, and MiLB.TV, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.