St. Paul, Minn. -- The Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks defeated the St. Paul Saints 4-2 on Friday despite two home runs from St. Paul’s Trever Adams.
Fargo scores first in the fourth inning
Neither team scored right away, as it took the Saints until the third inning to even get a hit. The Redhawks got the first run in the fourth inning when Keury De La Cruz singled to right field. Josh Mazzola followed by getting hit by a pitch, which set up Brian Humphries to single home De La Cruz, while Mazzola scored when Charlie Valerio hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Redhawks up 2-0.
The Saints got one run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Adams led off with a home run to right field, his fifth of the season to cut the lead to 2-1. Unfortunately for the Saints, Fargo got that run back in the sixth inning when De La Cruz hit a leadoff home run of his own.
(Betsy Bissen/St. Paul Saints)
Pitchers rule the rest of the game
From there, it was a battle of the pitchers, as the Saints were unable to figure out Redhawks starter Jose Almarante, who went 6 ⅔ innings, giving up just seven hits while striking out seven. His replacement, Colton Reavis, also performed well, as he went one inning giving up no hits and no runs while picking up one strikeout. He was relieved by Will Mathis, who finished the eighth inning by getting Dan Johnson to hit a deep flyout to center field.
The Saints pitching staff was just as good, as starter Mark Hamburger went eight innings giving up three runs on eight hits. Once he was removed, Cody Williams came into the game and worked the ninth, giving up one run on two hits.
St. Paul stepped up to the plate in the ninth needing runs. The first batter was Adams, who hit his second home run of the night to cut it to a two-run lead. After Willie Argo and Tony Caldwell flew out, Tanner Vavra hit a double to right-center field, but he was stranded as Aaron Gretz flew out to center field to end the game.
Quick Hits
- Adams had a great night, as he went 3-4 with two home runs to take home the VAVEL USA Player of the Game award. His performance brings his average up to .293 on the season.
- Vavra also had a great night, as he went 4-4 with two singles and two doubles.
- The loss went to Hamburger, only his second loss of the season, both of which have come in his last two starts.
- The two teams will play the final game of the series on Saturday night when the Saints send RHP Robert Coe (8-2, 4.91) to the mound while the Redhawks counter with RHP Taylor Stanton (4-4, 3.79). After the game, the Saints have a day off before they travel to Gary to take on the Railcats.
Winning Pitcher - Jose Almarante (2-1)
Losing Pitcher - Mark Hamburger (11-2)
Save - Patrick Mincey (1)
Player of the game - Trever Adams (STP) 3-4, two home runs including one in the ninth to cut the lead to just two runs.