Saints Comeback Falls Short, Losing Streak Reaches 11 In 8-7 Loss To Storm Chasers

OMAHA, NE (May 20, 2022) - The St. Paul Saints showed a lot of fight on Friday night at Werner Park. They trailed 5-0 after three and 7-3 after five, but stormed back to tie the game. For the fifth time in the last 11 games, however, they lost by a run giving up the go ahead run in the eighth, losing 8-7. The loss is the 11th consecutive for the Saints, the longest in the Minor Leagues this season and tying the longest losing streak at any level (the Cincinnati Reds lost 11 in a row earlier this year), and was their 12th in a row on the road.

With the Saints down 7-3 in the seventh they came storming back to tie it with four consecutive singles to start the inning. Jermaine Palacios began the inning with a single to right-center. He moved to second on an infield single by Jake Cave. Caleb Hamilton also reached on an infield single to first and Vinnie Pasquantino’s throw to the pitcher Josh Dye covering went into foul territory allowing Palacios to score and sending Cave to third as the Saints got to within 7-4. An infield single by Kevin Merrell scored Cave inching the Saints to 7-5. With one out, Alex Kirilloff singled home Hamilton making it 7-6. Kirilloff finished 3-4 with an RBI. A wild pitch scored Merrell knotting the game at seven.

The good feelings didn’t last too long because in the bottom of the eighth the Storm Chasers took the lead for good. Angelo Castellano led off by being hit by a pitch. He stole second and with one out Nick Pratto walked. A two-out RBI single to right by Pasquantino gave the Storm Chasers the one run lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Storm Chasers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second with four consecutive one out hits. Brewer Hecklin started it with a single to left and that was followed by three consecutive doubles. Clay Dungan down the first base line to put runners at second and third, Freddy Fermin off the wall in left scoring two, and JaCoby Jones also off the wall in left scoring Fermin.

Pratto led off the third for the Storm Chasers with a walk. Gabriel Cancel hit a grounder to short, but Palacios couldn’t field it cleanly and the error put runners at first and second. It was the 10th consecutive game the Saints committed an error. Pasquantino’s double to right scored Cancel making it 4-0. A walk to Hicklen loaded the bases and that was followed by an RBI fielder’s choice from Dungan increasing the lead to 5-0.

The Saints got on the board in the top of the fifth with a three spot. Mark Contreras led off with an infield single to second. He moved to second on a groundout and scored on Cave’s single to center making it 5-1. Kevin Merrell then drilled a two-run homer to right, his second in as many games and third of the season, cutting the deficit to 5-3. It was the first time in his career that he’s homered in back-to-back games. Merrell finished 2-4 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored.

The Storm Chasers answered right back in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, Pasquantino walked and with two outs Dungan doubled him to third. Fermin singled to left plating both runners and putting the Storm Chasers up 7-3.

The same two teams meet in the fifth game of a six-game series on Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. The Saints send RHP Dereck Rodríguez (1-0, 1.72) to the mound against LHP Marcelo Martinez (NR). The game can be seen on MiLB.TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.