Woods Richardson Tosses Gem Out Of Pen, Saints Silence I-Cubs 5-2

_DES MOINES, IA _*(July 8, 2023) - *This is the Simeon Woods Richardson the St. Paul Saints saw for seven starts in 2023 when he was promoted from Double-A Wichita. Coming out of the bullpen after a 2.0 inning start by Brent Headrick, Woods Richardson fanned a season high seven and helped lead the charge as the Saints took down the Iowa Cubs 5-2 on Saturday night at Principal Park. The win improves the Saints to 8-3 in the second half.

The Saints struck first in the third when Elliot Soto drew a one-out walk and scored on an RBI double by Austin Martin making it 1-0.

After 2.0 shutout innings by Headrick where he struck out four, Woods Richardson came out of the gate in the third by retiring the side in order on two strikeouts.

After a leadoff single in the fourth, Woods Richardson got a couple of strikeouts and a flyout to end the inning.

The lone run given up by Woods Richardson came in the fifth when the I-Cubs knotted the game at one on a solo homer by Luis Vazquez, his third of the season.

Just like Friday night, the Saints used the seventh to put up a crooked number that was enough to carry them to victory. Mark Contreras led off with a line drive single off the right field wall. With one out, Anthony Prato drilled a 408-foot two-run homer to left, his fourth of the season, giving the Saints a 3-1 lead. Elliot Soto walked, moved to second on a groundout, and Matt Wallner’s hard single off first baseman David Bote scored Soto giving the Saints a 4-1 lead.

Woods Richardson finished off his night with a 1-2-3 seventh inning. He went 5.0 innings allowing one run on three hits while walking one and striking out a season high seven. He threw 81 pitches, 52 for strikes and got 16 swing and misses.

The Saints grabbed an insurance run in the eighth on a solo homer by Chris Williams, his team leading 16^th of the season, making it 5-1.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Josh Winder struck out the first two hitters he faced. Vazquez then hit a comebacker off the leg of Winder for an infield single. After a walk to Dom Nuñez put runners at first and second, Yonathan Perlaza made it 5-2 with an RBI single to right. With the tying run at the plate and the count 2-2 on Darius Hill, Winder threw a curveball that was called ball three. Catcher Chris Williams challenged the call, and the call was overturned ending the game on a strike three upon the reversal.

The same two teams meet in the finale of the six-game series on Sunday afternoon at 1:08 p.m. The Saints send RHP Louie Varland (2-0, 6.44) to the mound and the I-Cubs are TBA. The game can be heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.