Saints Come From Four Back For 7-6 Walk-Off Win In 10

ST. PAUL, MN (July 18, 2021) - Early in the season, the St. Paul Saints may not have come back from a four-run deficit. Over the last month, however, the offense has played with a new sense of confidence. On Sunday afternoon at CHS Field the Saints came back from two, four-run deficits and won it on a walk-off RBI single by Tomás Telis in the bottom of the 10th for a 7-6 victory over the Columbus Clippers in front of 7,723. The Saints took five of six from the Clippers and got over .500 (33-32) for the first time since they were 16-15 on June 8.

With the Saints down 6-2 in the eighth Brent Rooker led off the inning with a walk. Willians Astudillo’s single to right put runners at first and second. Jimmy Kerrigan followed with a walk to load the bases. A wild pitch scored Rooker to make it 6-3. After Telis struck out, JT Riddle’s ground out plated Astudillo cutting the deficit to 6-4. Back-to-back RBI singles by Keon Broxton and pinch hitter Sherman Johnson, the first pinch-hit base hit for the Saints this season, tied the game at six.

In the top of the 10th, with the runner starting at second, reliever Nick Vincent struck out Connor Marabell after he fouled off three bunt attempts. Gabriel Arias fouled out to Telis at first as Oscar Gonzalez tagged up and just beat the throw to third. Vincent got out of the inning unscathed when Tyler Krieger flew out to left.

In the bottom of the 10th with Rooker the runner at second, the Clippers elected to intentionally walk Astudillo. Kerrigan grounded into a double play as Rooker took third. Telis, who had been 0-4, extended his hitting streak to 13 games with the walk-off single into right-center field.

The Saints fell behind 4-0 after four innings, mostly due to local product, Alex Call. He started off the scoring for the Clippers leading off the game with a solo homer to left, his first of the day and fourth of the season, to make it 1-0.

In the third it was Call again. Tyler Krieger led off with a single to center and Call followed with a two-run homer to left, his second of the day and fifth of the season, making it 3-0.

In the fourth the Clippers added to the lead when Connor Marabell led off with an infield single to third, moved to second on a balk, and scored on a single by Gavin Collins increasing the Clippers lead to 4-0.

The Saints used the long ball in the sixth to get back into the game as Astudillo and Kerrigan hit back-to-back solo homers, their second and ninth, respectively, to cut the deficit to 4-2.

The Clippers added to their lead in the eighth when Gabriel Arias led off with a triple and scored on an RBI single from Oscar Gonzalez to make it 5-2. Andrew Vasquez’ errant pickoff attempt to first, sent Gonzalez to second. Marabell’s groundout moved Gonzalez to third and Collins’ single plated Gonzalez to make it 6-2, a lead the Saints would come back from for the walk-off win.

The Saints are off on Monday and return to action on Tuesday at Werner Park in game one of a six-game series against the Omaha Storm Chasers at 11:05 a.m. Both teams are TBA. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.