The St. Paul Saints aren't used to losing at home, as entering Sunday afternoon's game they had won their last 10 home games. They had the opportunity to sweep the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, but an offensive outburst from the Redhawks lineup prevented that from happening, as six home runs put the Redhawks over the top.
Fargo scores immediately
The Redhawks got the scoring started right away, as Ryan Pineda hit a one-out double to left-center field. He advanced to third when Keury De La Cruz singled, and they both scored when KD Kang hit a home run to center field. Dustin Geiger then followed with a home run of his own to make is a 4-0 lead.
Fargo added another run in the second inning when Ryan Wagner led off with a double. He advanced to third when Bryan Johns reached on an error by the shortstop and scored when Kes Carter hit a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 5-0.
In the third inning, the Redhawks got another run, and again it came off the bat of Kang, as he hit his second home run, this one to left-center field, to make it a 6-0 lead.
Fargo got four more runs in the seventh inning, as Pineda drew a one-out walk. De La Cruz then got into the act, as he launched a home run to right field to score Pineda and make it 8-0. That score did not hold for very long, as Kang doubled to right-center field, and scored when Geiger hit his second home run of the game.
St. Paul finally gets on the board in the seventh
The Saints finally got on the board in their half of the seventh inning, as Trever Adams led off with a triple to right field. Tony Caldwell followed with a walk. Aaron Gretz stepped up to the plate and singled to right field to score Adams. Willie Argo followed with a double to left field to score Caldwell and make it an eight-run lead.
After Tanner Vavra and Angelo Songco both struck out, Alonzo Harris drew a walk to load the bases for Tony Thomas, who drew a walk to drive in another run. Nate Hanson followed with a walk to bring in the fourth run of the inning for the Saints. Adams then stepped up and flew out to left field to end the inning.
The Redhawks got two more runs in the eighth inning when Johns hit a one-out single. He scored when Carter launched a home run to right field to re-extend the lead.
Fargo added two more runs in the ninth, which left the Saints trailing 14-4 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Vavra led off with being hit by a pitch, which was followed by a single to right field from Songco. Both of them advanced an extra base when the third baseman was unable to handle the throw from the outfield.
Harris followed with a single to left field to score Vavra, while Songco scored when Hanson singled. Colton Reavis bounced back to strike out Adams and Caldwell to end the game and get the Redhawks the win.
Quick Hits
- With his single in the ninth inning, Harris extended his hitting streak to 14 games, which is the longest current streak on the team, but second-longest on the season, as Thomas had a 26-game streak earlier this season.
- The Redhawks now will go back to Fargo for an off-day before traveling to Sioux Falls to fave the Canaries. The Saints meanwhile will immediately head to Winnipeg to face the Goldeyes. The two teams will meet again in St. Paul in early August, just after the league All-Star game.