Jake Cave's Remarkable On Base Streak Ends At 49 Straight In 4-1 Loss To Bats

LOUSVILLE, KY (July 8, 2022) - On April 30 the St. Paul Saints played a rain shortened five inning game against the Nashville Sounds. Jake Cave was 0-2 on that night. It would be the last time he failed to reach base safely. On May 3, Cave went 0-4, but a drew a walk. Who knew one walk would be the start of something special? On Friday night at Louisville Slugger Field the Saints lost 4-1 to the Louisville Bats and in the process Cave’s amazing streak of reaching base safely ended at 49 as he went 0-4.

In the first, Spencer Steer led off with a single to right which brought up Cave. He grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.

An unlikely source gave the Saints the lead with a home run. With one out in the third Elliot Soto drilled a 398-foot homer to left, his third of the season and first since May 4, putting the Saints up 1-0. With two outs in the inning, Cave would once again hit a grounder to second and was retired for the second time.

The Bats put up a four spot in the fourth to take the lead as Max Schrock led off with a solo homer to right-center, his second of the season, tying the game at one. Two batters later Juniel Querecuto gave the Bats the lead with a solo homer to right, his fourth of the season, making it 2-1. Stuart Fairchild followed with a walk and Lorenzo Cedrola doubled him to third. Saints starter Mario Sanchez departed for Austin Schulfer. Chuckie Robinson blooped a two-run single into center giving the Bats a 4-1 lead.

The Saints had an opportunity to score in the fifth as José Godoy singled with one out. With two outs Steer doubled to left putting runners at second and third. That brought up Cave, but for the third time on the night he hit a grounder to second and he was thrown out at first to end the inning.

Ariel Jurado was masterful out of the bullpen for the Saints retiring the first nine batters he faced before giving up a leadoff single in the eighth. Jurado got a double play and then fanned the final hitter he faced. Jurado faced the minimum in his 4.0 shutout innings allowing one hit while fanning three.

Cave had one last opportunity to extend the streak in the eighth. With Steer at first and nobody out Cave drove a ball to deep center, but Cedrola made the catch up against the wall.

The Saints needed to bring six men to the plate in the ninth to give Cave one more shot, but only managed to send up four. During the streak, Cave had a hit in 39 of the 49 games, extended the streak with a walk nine times, and a hit by pitch once. The streak was the second longest in Minor League Baseball this season, only bested by Corpus Christi’s Luke Berryhill’s 51 consecutive games from April 14-June 21.

The same two teams meet in game five of the six-game series on Saturday night at Louisville Slugger Field at 6:05 p.m. (CT). The Saints send RHP Aaron Sanchez (3-0, 4.21) to the mound against Bats RHP T.J. Zeuch (0-4, 10.03). The game can be seen on MiLB.TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.