Saints Continue To Roll With Fourth Straight Win, 6-2 Over Bisons

_BUFFALO, NY _*(May 31, 2023) - *The St. Paul Saints are playing their best baseball of the year at the right time with 24 games remaining in the first half of the season. They received another solid start from Aaron Sanchez while Matt Wallner and Jose Miranda continue to get hot. The Saints once again scored late to turn a tight game into a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Bisons on Wednesday afternoon at Sahlen Field for their fourth straight victory. The win improves the Saints to a season-tying high seven games over .500 at 29-22.

The Saints hit the ball hard in the first inning and were rewarded. After Andrew Stevenson and Miranda made the first two outs of the inning on balls hit 99.2 miles per hour and 93.7 miles per hour, respectively, Matt Wallner delivered the hardest hit ball by a Saints player this season, a 115.6 mph single off the wall in right. Kyle Garlick followed with a two-run blast to left, his sixth of the season, giving the Saints a 2-0 lead.

Sanchez was in command over the first four innings, not allowing a base runner past second base.

In the fifth, the Saints added to their lead. With one out, Alex De Goti roped a double down the left field line. With two outs, Miranda’s broken bat looper landed just over the head of shortstop Rafael Lantigua for an RBI single giving the Saints a 3-0 lead.

The Bisons got on the board in the bottom half of the fifth with two outs. Lantigua walked and Tanner Morris singled to right. Lantigua took third and the right fielder Wallner’s throw to third got past Miranda into foul territory allowing Lantigua to score making it 3-1. That was the lone run Sanchez allowed as he went 5.0 innings allowing an unearned run on four hits while walking one and striking out one.

Wallner continued his torrid pace driving a 405-foot solo homer to left-center in the seventh giving the Saints a 4-1 lead. Wallner finished 3-5 with a home run, RBI, and a run scored.

In the bottom of the inning, the Bisons grabbed the run back with a one out double from Otto Lopez and he scored courtesy of a two-out single from Cam Eden cutting the Saints lead to 4-2.

The Saints added two insurance runs to put the finishing touches on the game in the ninth. De Goti walked with one out and Miranda delivered a two-run homer over the left-center field wall, his first of the season, giving the Saints a 6-2 lead. Miranda went 3-5 with a home run, three RBI, and a run scored.

The same two teams meet in game three of the six-game series at 10:05 a.m. (CT) at Sahlen Field on Thursday morning. Both teams are TBA. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.