Saints Give Up Eight In Ninth, Lose 8-3

ST. PAUL, MN (May 16, 2021) - The St. Paul Saints were three outs away from winning a series. They were three outs away from getting to .500. They were three outs away from an impressive victory over the Iowa Cubs. Unfortunately, an eight run ninth inning ruined all of that as the Saints lost 8-3 on Sunday afternoon at CHS Field in front of 3,594.

The Saints carried a 3-0 lead into the ninth inning, but the I-Cubs sent 12 men to the plate and plated eight runs. Reliever Ian Gibaut started the inning and faced nine batters, the first eight of whom reached. PJ Higgins led off with a single to right. Nick Martini walked and Patrick Wisdom was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jimmy Kerrigan then made a valiant diving attempt on Tyler Gushu’s sinking fly ball, but the ball hit off his glove for an RBI single making it 3-1. Andrew Romine’s little tapper to the right side was fielded by Gibaut, but no one covered first and the infield RBI single made it 3-2. Sergio Alcantara’s two-run double down the first base line gave the I-Cubs a 4-3. A walk to Ian Miller loaded the bases and Trayce Thompson unloaded them with a double to left-center putting the I-Cubs up 7-3. After a pop out by Rafael Ortega, Gibaut was removed for Robinson Leyer. He struck out Higgins, but Martini doubled home Thompson to put a bow on the ninth inning.

The Saints jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and looked like they were going to ride that until the end. They got to starter Joe Biagini, who had thrown 5.0 no-hit innings against them on Tuesday night, as Nick Gordon led off with a single to center. JT Riddle followed with a single to right. Ryan Jeffers made it 1-0 with an RBI double to left. With one out, Damek Tomscha’s RBI single to right gave the Saints a 2-0 lead. Keon Broxton made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Randy Dobnak was sharp on Sunday afternoon cruising through 5.0+ innings. Each time a runner got aboard, Dobnak was able to get a double play. He got a strike him out, throw him out double play in the third. With runners at first and second and one out in the fourth, Dobnak got a ground ball to Tomscha at third, who stepped on the bag and threw across to first for the double play. In the fifth, Dobnak ended the inning with a 6-4-3 double play. Dobnak went 5.0+ shutout innings allowing four hits while walking one and striking out five.

Lewis Thorpe worked 2.0 shutout innings and got a double play of his own in the seventh. The Saints entered play having turned just four double plays in the first 10 games, but turned four on Sunday.

The Saints have Monday off and return to action on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. in game one of a six-game series against the Indianapolis Indians (Pirates) at CHS Field. Both teams are TBA. The game can be seen on the Saints Cable Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities, and heard on KFAN Plus.