Saints Furious Rally In Ninth Not Enough In 8-5 Loss

TOLEDO, OH (October 2, 2021) - All season long the St. Paul Saints have fought hard and until the bitter end. On Saturday night at Fifth Third Field they did all they could to come back from a seven run deficit in the ninth, sending the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately, they couldn’t come all the way back and lost 8-5.

With the Saints down 8-1 in the ninth Jose Miranda doubled to right. With two outs Gilberto Celestino walked. Mark Contreras followed with a single to load the bases. A walk to Drew Maggi forced in a run to make it 8-2. BJ Boyd followed with a two-run single to right cutting the deficit to 8-4. Angel De Jesus departed and Drew Carlton took over. Sherman Johnson greeted him with an RBI single to make it a three-run game. Drew Stankiewicz represented the tying run, but he grounded out to second to end the game.

The Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Miranda led off the game by clubbing the first pitch over the left field wall. The homer was his 17th with the Saints and 30th between Double-A Wichita and the Saints, becoming the 12th Minor Leaguer to reach the 30 homer mark this season. Miranda finished the night 2-5 with a double, home run, RBI, and two runs scored.

The Saints had trouble finding the strike zone all night long issuing 10 walks with six of those 10 coming into score. The walks started in the first with starter Drew Strotman. The Mud Hens wasted little time in grabbing the lead in the bottom of the inning. With two outs and a runner at first, Aderlin Rodriguez drilled an RBI triple to center tying the game at one. Strotman then walked four consecutive hitters forcing in a pair of runs making it 3-1 Mud Hens. He lasted 1.0 inning allowing three runs on two hits while walking four.

The Mud Hens added another in the second as Riley Greene led off with a walk. He stole second and, with two outs, scored from second on a strikeout of Rodriguez as the ball bounced in the dirt and got away from catcher Caleb Hamilton increasing the lead to 4-1.

In the fourth the Mud Hens tacked on two more courtesy of a fly ball that was lost in the night sky. With one out, Edgar Garcia walked Greene and Spencer Torkleson. With two outs, Rodriguez hit a fly ball to straightaway right, but Gilberto Celestino never saw the ball and it fell in for a two-run double giving the Mud Hens a 6-1 lead.

The Mud Hens continued tacking on runs adding one in the fifth. With one out Jacob Robson walked, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Christopher Proctor giving the Mud Hens a 7-1 lead.

Torkelson led off the sixth for the Mud Hens with a walk. Kody Clemens’ infield single put runners at first and second. A walk to Rodriguez loaded the bases. Torkelson came home on a double play ground out increasing the lead to 8-1.

The same two teams meet in the final game of the 2021 season on Sunday afternoon at 12:05 p.m. central. The Saints send LHP Andrew Albers (7-4, 3.75) to the mound against Mud Hens RHP Pedro Payano (5-7, 5.00). The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.