St. Paul, Minn. -- The St. Paul Saints defeated the Sioux Falls Canaries 3-1 on Saturday night, but it came at a price, as left fielder Willie Argo was forced to leave the game after suffering an injury chasing down a fly ball.
St. Paul scores first
The scoring started in the Saints half of the second when Nate Hanson, who has been on fire lately, hit a solo home run to left field to put the Saints up 1-0. Argo followed with a triple to deep left-center field, and he scored when Aaron Gretz reached on an error by the first baseman.
The Saints picked up an insurance run in the fifth inning when Alonzo Harris hit a one-out double to left field. He scored when Tony Thomas singled to right field to make it a 3-0 Saints lead.
Argo was set to lead off the sixth inning for the Saints, but when he went out to the on-deck circle, he was called back to the dugout by manager George Tsamis, who called on Brady Burzynski to pinch hit. Burzynski struck out for the first out of the inning, then went in and played left field for the remainder of the game.
Tsamis didn't seem very concerned after the game, saying that he was removed as a precaution, although there is no word yet on if he will be available to play in tomorrow afternoon's game.
Saints starting pitcher Dan Johnson had a good outing, as he went six innings, giving up no runs on five hits with six strikeouts for the knuckleballer who played 10 years in the major leagues.
The Canaries picked up a run in the seventh inning against reliever Corey Williams when Darwin Perez hit a one-out double to center field. He advanced to third when Blake Schmit hit a sacrifice fly to center, and scored when rookie Patrick Fiala hit a single to center field to cut the Saints lead to just two runs.
The Saints had a 3-1 lead entering the ninth inning when Caleb Thielbar came in to finish the game The first batter he faced was Ethan Chapman, who he got to strike out swinging. Perez followed with a high chopper behind the pitchers' mound that nobody was able to field for an infield single.
That brought up Schmit, who represented the tying run. Fortunately for the Saints, he hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game and hand the Saints their 54th win of the season.
Quick Hits
- Hanson continued his hot streak, although compared to his previous two games he was pretty tame. He went 2-4 with the home run in the second inning in just his third game back from paternity leave.
- The Saints will go for the sweep of the Canaries on Sunday afternoon when the Saints send newly signed Jeff Shields, who played for the Saints last season, to the mound while the Canaries will counter with Dylan Thompson (2-1, 2.36).
Win - Dan Johnson (4-2)
Loss - Kris Regas (4-7)
Save - Caleb Thielbar (4)
Player of the game: Dan Johnson (STP) - Went six innings, giving up just five hits and no runs to lead the Saints to the victory.