Saints Come From Six Back For 9-8 Walk-Off Win In 10

ST. PAUL, MN (May 27, 2022) - The St. Paul Saints were down 6-0 and 8-. They were down one with two outs in the ninth. None of that mattered as Jermaine Palacios delivered the walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th for a 9-8 victory at CHS Field on Friday night in front of 7,064. The win was their third straight tying their longest winning streak of the season on two other occasions.

With the Saints down 8-7 in the ninth and two outs Mark Contreras stepped to the plate. The power hitting left-hander hadn’t homered since May 4. He ended the drought with a solo blast to left-center off of hard throwing reliever Cristofer Melendez. It was Contreras’ team leading sixth of the season tying the game at eight.

In the top of the 10th, Jharel Cotton went out for his second inning of relief. With Bligh Madris as the placed runner at second, pinch hitter Canaan Smith-Njigba reached on a fielding error by Cotton that put runners at the corners. After Smith Njigba took second on defensive indifference and the Saints infield playing in, Cole Tucker grounded out to second as the runners held. After a walk to Hoy Park loaded the bases, Cotton got Jared Oliva to foul out to first and then got the Pittsburgh Pirates top rated prospect, Oneil Cruz, to strikeout to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 10th with Jake Cave as the placed runner at second, Palacios took the first pitch he saw and lined it into center field scoring Cave for the walk-off winner. It was the second walk-off win for the Saints this season and ended a five-game losing streak in extra innings.

The Saints fell behind big early as the Indians plated six in the third inning that started with a leadoff walk to Hoy Park. Oliva gave the Indians a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer to left, his third of the season. Cruz then lined a single to right and that was followed by a single from Travis Swaggerty. Ji Hwan-Bae made it 3-0 with an RBI double to left. A sacrifice fly from Mason Martin increased the lead to 4-0. Madris put the finishing touches on the inning with a two-run homer to left, his third of the season, giving the Indians a 6-0 lead.

The Saints capitalized on an error in the bottom of the inning to plate a pair. With one out Alex Kirilloff singled to center. A walk to Spencer Steer put runners at first and second. Contreras then lined a shot to left that hit off the glove of Cruz for a two base error as Kirilloff scored getting the Saints to within 6-1. An RBI groundout by Cave made it 6-2.

Cruz atoned for his mistake in the top of the fourth hitting a solo homer to left, his sixth of the season, putting the Indians up 7-2.

In the sixth, the Indians added to their lead as Park walked and scored on a triple from Oliva making it a six-run lead.

The Saints mounted their comeback in the bottom of the inning as the first three hitters reached. Cave extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single to left-center. Cave moved to second on a single from Palacios, and scored on a Curtis Terry double getting the Saints to withing 8-3. A bad hop single from Elliot Soto plated Palacios making it 8-4.

The Saints got to within one in the eighth. With two on and one out Caleb Hamilton unloaded on one over the left field wall, his third of the season, closing the gap to 8-7.

The six-run deficit is the second largest comeback of the season. They trailed 8-0 to the Indians on April 16 before coming back and winning 16-13.

The same two teams meet in game six of a seven-game series on Saturday night at CHS Field at 7:07 p.m. The Saints send RHP Ronny Henriquez (0-1, 7.20) to the mound against Indians RHP Bryce Wilson (NR). The game can be seen on FOX9+ and MiLB.TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.