Late Game Heroics Again, Saints Score Three In Ninth For 7-5 Win Over Storm Chasers

OMAHA, NE (July 22, 2021) - In the last four games the St. Paul Saints trailed in the seventh inning or later. For the fourth consecutive game the Saints found a way to comeback and win. Down to their final two outs, the Saints scored three runs in the ninth and defeated the Midwest Division leader, Omaha Storm Chasers, 7-5. The win was the fourth straight and eighth in the last nine for the Saints as they improved to 36-32 and are now 4.5 games back, the closest they’ve been to first since June 4.

Jake Newberry, who gave up the tying home run to Drew Maggi in the ninth on Tuesday, came in to close out the game again for the Storm Chasers. With the Saints down 5-4 and one out, Drew Stankiewicz poked a double down the left field line. Roberto Peña followed with an RBI double to left tying the game at five. Peña finished the night 3-3 with a double, home run, two RBI and two runs scored. Jose Miranda then ripped a shot off the glove of a diving Angelo Castellano at second that put runners at the corners. A walk to Jimmy Kerrigan loaded the bases. After a strikeout to Brent Rooker, Tomàs Telis drilled a two-run single into left-center field to put the Saints up by two.

Ian Hamilton closed it out in the ninth by getting the top of the order: Rudy Martin, Bobby Witt Jr (8th best prospect in Major League Baseball), and Nick Pratto (92nd best prospect in Major League Baseball) on ground balls. It was Hamilton’s third save of the season and second in three games.

The Storm Chasers jumped on the board first in the first when Nick Pratto reached on a two-out infield single just past the pitcher Matt Shoemaker. Edward Olivares followed with a two-run homer to left, his 11th of the season, making it 2-0 Storm Chasers.

The Saints used the long ball of their own to tie the game up. With two outs in the third Peña drilled a 391-foot homer to left, a solo shot that was his second of the season, making it 2-1. The very next hitter, Jose Miranda, then blasted a 464-foot solo blast that had an exit velocity of 110 miles per hour, his seventh of the season, tying the game at two_._

The Storm Chasers doubled their way to the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Martin led off with a fly ball double to left. Witt Jr. then drilled an RBI double into the left field corner scoring Martin to give the Storm Chasers a 3-2 lead. With two outs Kyle Isbel doubled to the gap in left-center scoring Witt Jr. to make it 4-2.

The Saints, however, once again came back in the sixth as Rooker reached on a one out single to left. Telis singled to right that sent Rooker to third. Mark Contreras made it 4-3 with an RBI single to right. The Saints tied it on an RBI fielder’s choice by Keon Broxton.

For the third time in the game the Storm Chasers regained the lead. In the bottom of the sixth Angelo Castellano singled to left, stole second, and scored on a two-out single to left-center by Martin making it 5-4 Storm Chasers. As the Saints, would prove however, no lead is safe for the opposition right now.

The Saints became the first team to defeat the Storm Chasers three-straight times at Werner Park this season. The Storm Chasers are 22-10 at home, with half those losses coming at the hands of the Saints.

The same two teams meet in game four of the six-game series at Werner Park on Friday at 7:05 p.m. The Saints send LHP Charlie Barnes (5-2, 3.88) to the mound against Storm Chasers RHP Jackson Kowar (6-2, 2.02). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.