It Truly Is Heaven As Saints Crush Iowa Cubs, 17-6
ST. PAUL, MN (May 25, 2021) - Dyersville may be a three-hour drive from Des Moines, but on Tuesday night at Principal Park the St. Paul Saints played on their own Field of Dreams. They set a season high in runs and hits with 17 and 14, respectively, as eight
ST. PAUL, MN (May 25, 2021) - Dyersville may be a three-hour drive from Des Moines, but on Tuesday night at Principal Park the St. Paul Saints played on their own Field of Dreams. They set a season high in runs and hits with 17 and 14, respectively, as eight of nine starters collected a hit, eight of nine collected an RBI, and all nine scored a run. They blasted four home runs, three, three-run shots in a 17-6 rout over the Iowa Cubs.
The Saints scored in six of the nine innings and with a 1-0 lead in the second blew the game wide open. Jimmy Kerrigan led off with a walk and Keon Broxton doubled him to third. Daniel Descalso then hit a ground ball to second that went under the glove of Matt Burch for an error as Kerrigan scored making it 2-0. Tzu-Wei Lin followed with an RBI single to left-center making it 3-0. Tomás Telis then crushed a three-run homer to left, his second of the season, giving the Saints a 6-0 lead.
In the fourth, Lin led off by reaching on an error when first baseman Jacob Olson underhanded a throw to pitcher Cory Abbott, who dropped the ball. With two outs Ryan Jeffers walked and Ben Rortvedt drilled an RBI double putting the Saints up 7-0. That was followed by a three-run homer from J.T. Riddle, his first of the season, making it 10-0.
With the Saints up 10-1 in the sixth Jeffers singled and Rortvedt doubled him home giving the Saints an 11-1 lead. Rortvedt went 2-4 with two doubles, two RBI, and two runs scored. With two outs Jimmy Kerrigan made it 12-1 with an RBI single.
The Saints kept pouring it on in the seventh when Lin walked and Telis singled. Two batters later Jeffers hit his fourth homer of the season, a three-run blast to right-center, that increased the lead to 15-1.
The Saints finished their scoring in the ninth when Telis finished off a 4-6 night with a single to right-center. He finished a triple shy of the cycle, collected three RBI and three runs scored. Brent Rooker followed with a two-run blast to left-center, his fourth of the season, making it 17-1.
The 17 runs scored by the Saints were the third most by a Triple-A team this season and the 36 total bases were the second most by a Triple-A team and fourth most in any Minor League game this season.
The same two teams meet in game two of the six-game series at 12:08 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. The Saints send LHP Charlie Barnes (1-0, 3.95) to the mound while the I-Cubs are TBA. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.