Saints Strikeout Franchise Record 19 Sounds, But Lose 10-8 In 10

_ST. PAUL, MN _*(May 4, 2023) - *One-by-one the St. Paul Saints mowed down the Nashville Sounds. They stood just one out away from winning back-to-back games, but they couldn’t get the final out. The Saints gave up two in the ninth and two in the 10^th, losing 10-8 on Thursday night at CHS Field in front of 4,909. The loss drops the Saints to 16-12 on the season.

With the Saints up 8-6 in the ninth the Sounds tied the game with Abraham Toro getting things started on a one out single to left. With two outs Andruw Monasterio walked. Back-to-back RBI singles by Brian Navarreto and Payton Henry tied the game at eight.

In the 10^th, with the placed runner at second, Blake Perkins walked. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up to second and third. With two outs Toro singled to right scoring both runners that proved to be the game winners.

The Saints came out on fire in the first inning and jumped out to a 4-0 lead aided by a couple of errors from the Sounds. Edouard Julien led off the inning with a walk. Michael Helman’s grounder to short was booted by Monasterio putting runners at first and second. With one out, Kyle Garlick made it 2-0 with an RBI single to right and he advanced to second on a fielding error by Eddy Alvarez. A groundout by Matt Wallner moved Garlick to third. Ryan LaMarre put the Saints up 3-0 with an RBI single to left-center. That was followed by an RBI double from Chris Williams making it 4-0.

Brent Headrick was on his game early for the Saints, striking out the side in the first. In the second, Headrick gave up a one out solo homer to Cam Devanney, his third of the season, that made it 4-1. Headrick, however, struck out all three outs.

In the fourth, the Sounds tied it up as the first four hitters collected a hit, loading the bases with three straight singles from Toro, Devanney, and Monasterio. Navarreto tied the game with a bases clearing double to left and he advanced to third on the throw home. Headrick settled down and struck out the next two hitters before departing for Austin Schulfer. He got out of the jam two batters later with a fly out to center. Headrick went 3.2 innings allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out nine.

The Sounds grabbed the lead in the fifth off Schulfer as they loaded the bases without a hit courtesy of two walks and a hit by pitch. Monasterio made it 6-4 with a two-run single to center. After a walk loaded the bases, Schulfer was pulled for Cody Laweryson. He kept the game at two runs by striking out the next three hitters. Laweryson went 3.0 perfect innings and struck out five.

Julien got the Saints to within one in the bottom of the inning with a 462-foot solo bomb to right-center, his third of the season, cutting the deficit to 6-5.

Julien helped give the Saints the lead in the sixth after a one out single by Chris Williams and a two-out double from Elliot Soto put runners at second and third. Julien knocked them both home with a single to right putting the Saints up 7-6. He finished the night 2-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs scored.

The Saints added an insurance run in the eighth courtesy of a LaMarre solo homer to left, his third of the season, making it 8-6.

The 19 strikeouts surpassed the franchise record of 17 on May 8, 2022 vs. Iowa, although that was accomplished in a nine inning game.

The same two teams meet in game four of a six-game series on Friday night at CHS Field at 6:37 p.m. The Saints send RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (0-3, 5.79) to the mound against Sounds RHP Pedro Fernandez (0-1, 1.50). The game can be seen on the Saints Broadcast Network, cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities, the Bally Live app (free), and MiLB.TV, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.