Saints End Two Week Homestand With 15-3 Loss To Indianapolis

_ST. PAUL, MN _*(May 14, 2023) - *The St. Paul Saints have now played five two-week homestands in their short time as a Triple-A affiliate. They had an opportunity to finish with a winning record for the first time in five tries. Unfortunately, the Indianapolis Indians had other ideas as the Saints lost 15-3 on Sunday afternoon at CHS Field in front of 4,542. The loss gave the Saints a 6-6 record in their 12-game homestand and they are now 21-16 on the season.

For the third straight game and seventh time in the last eight games the Saints got on the board in the first inning. Edouard Julien led off with a walk and Kyle Garlick doubled him to third. The Saints grabbed a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from Matt Wallner. Mark Contreras made it 2-0 with an RBI single to center.

Jordan Balazovic cruised through the first three innings retiring all nine batters he faced while striking out four. In the fourth, however, luck wasn’t on his side to start the inning. Nick Gonzales hit a fly ball to right field that would have been an out in nearly every ballpark, but not at CHS Field. The ball was just off the glove of a leaping Matt Wallner up against the wall in right as Gonzales raced to third for a triple. Canaan Smith-Njigba lined an RBI single to left making it 2-1. Endy Rodríguez followed with a walk putting runners at first and second. Cal Mitchell hit a tapper to the right side of the mound. Balazovic fielded it, but his throw to second went into right-center allowing Smith-Njigba to score and sending Rodríguez to third and Mitchell went to second, tying the game at two. Jared Triolo’s two-run double to left gave the Indians a 4-2 lead. After a single by Malcom Nuñez put runners at the corners, a double play ground out by Grant Koch scored Triolo increasing the lead to 5-2.

Wallner got the Saints to within two in the fifth with a monster solo home run to right, a 442-foot shot his fourth of the season and second in as many games, making it 5-3.

The Indians grabbed the run back in the sixth inning on three consecutive one out singles from Mitchell, Triolo, and Nuñez, the latter scoring a run to make it 6-3.

In the seventh, the Indians grabbed two more runs as Chavez Young singled to center with one out. Gonzales was hit by a pitch and Smith-Njigba’s doubled plated a pair of runs giving the Indians an 8-3 lead.

The Indians finished it off with a seven-run ninth inning as they sent 10 men to the plate. A wild pitch scored the first run, a two-run double by Triolo, an RBI single from Josh Bissonette, and a three-run homer by Young accounted for the seven runs.

The Saints have Monday off and are back in action on Tuesday to begin a six-game series against the Columbus Clippers at Huntington Park at 6:05 p.m. (CT). The Saints send RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (0-3, 7.17) to the mound and the Clippers are TBA. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.