Twins Minor League Report (10/1): Saints Blown Out, Eliminated

SAINTS SENTINEL
Toledo 8, St. Paul 2
Box Score

Saint Paul came into tonight’s game with a respectable 5-2 record in the Triple-A Final Stretch race, but with Durham sitting on a 7-0 mark, the Saints found themselves in must-win territory. Unfortunately, they got a lackluster start from Beau Burrows and it only got worse from there. They dropped this one 8-2 and with Durham winning tonight, they have been eliminated from Final Stretch contention.

Burrows started out smooth with two scoreless innings, but he made a big mistake to Riley Greene in the third. The Mud Hen center fielder took him deep to center with a man on, giving Toledo a 2-0 lead.

The Hens were back at it in the fourth, though they got some help from the Saints. On a first-and-third steal attempt, Saints catcher David Banuelos hesitated and threw the ball in center field, allowing Ryan Kreidler to scamper home.

The Saints bats struggled early, but they grabbed Burrows a run of support in the top of the fifth on a Tomas Telis double. Drew Stankiewicz scored on the play, but Jose Miranda was thrown out at the plate trying to grab another run for St. Paul.

Burrows was removed with one out in the fifth and replaced with Ian Hamilton. The Saints starter allowed three runs (two earned) in 4 1/3 innings. He only allowed four hits and struck out four, but walked three.

Kreidler scored in another unusual way in the sixth. With one out in the inning and runners on first and third, Hamilton got a tailor-made double play ball to second, but Jacob Robson lured Drew Maggi into a rundown and kept the inning alive long enough for Kreidler to score to make it 4-1.

Robinson Leyer took over for Hamilton to start the seventh and a bad situation got worse. Leyer allowed the first three men of the inning to reach and then gave up a grand slam to Aderlin Rodriguez that curled around the left field foul pole. Leyer was removed from the 8-1 ballgame having only gotten one out while allowing four runs.

Bryan Sammons took over for Leyer and got the last five outs of the game without allowing a run, but the damage was done.

The Saints grabbed a run in the ninth thanks to two Toledo errors, but that run only served to slightly obscure the troubles the offense had all night. They got six hits, but couldn’t string any rallies together. It certainly didn’t help that they struck out 14 times as a team, including eight combined K’s (and a combined 0-for-12) from the three, four, and five hitters. Telis and Maggi were the best of a bad bunch tonight as they both went 2-for-4 with Telis driving in a run and Maggi scoring one. 

The Saints lose 8-2 and drop to a 5-3 record in the Triple-A Final Stretch.

TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY
Hitter of the Day: Tomas Telis (St. Paul) - 2-for-4, 2B, RBI, BB, K
Pitcher of the Day: Bryan Sammons (St. Paul) - 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, BB, 3 K

PROSPECT SUMMARY
#6-  Jose Miranda (St. Paul)- 1-for-5
#13- Gilberto Celestino (St. Paul)- 0-for-4, 3 K
#16 - Brent Rooker (Minnesota)- 1-for-3 (In Progress)

SATURDAY'S PROBABLE STARTER

St. Paul @ Toledo (4:05PM CST) RHP Drew Strotman (10-4, 5.09 ERA)

Feel free to comment and discuss tonight’s game!