ST. PAUL, MN (August 29, 2020) – This is not 2019. This is not the closing stretch the St. Paul Saints had during their championship run last season. For the second consecutive night the Saints gave up double-digit runs to the Sioux Falls Canaries and for the second straight night they never had the lead as they lost 10-5 in front of a sell out crowd of 1,500 at CHS Field. The loss drops the Saints to 25-25, 1.5 games out of a playoff spot with 10 games to go.

The difference through the first seven innings was the second inning as the Canaries scored two runs and the Saints scored one. In the top of the second inning Jabari Henry led off with a single and moved to second on a one out single by Mike Hart. With two outs Logan Landon knocked them both home with a single giving the Canaries a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning Nate Samson doubled and scored on a single by John Silviano making it 2-1. After that the teams traded identical runs over the next three innings.

In the third Damek Tomscha led off the inning with a solo homer, his ninth of the season, making it 3-1, but the Saints answered with their own leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning from Mikey Reynolds, his fifth of the season, cutting the deficit to 3-2.

The teams traded two spots in the fourth. The Canaries loaded the bases as the first three men reached when Hart led off with a single, Ryan Brett and Landon walked. An RBI groundout from Andrew Ely made it 4-2 and that was followed by a sacrifice fly from Clint Coulter putting the Canaries up 5-2.

In the bottom of the inning Chesny Young singled and Samson delivered his first home run in a Saints uniform getting the Saints back to within one at 5-4.

With two outs in the top of the fifth Roy Morales singled and Hart tripled him home giving the Canaries a 6-4 lead.

In the bottom of the inning the Saints made it 6-5 as Reynolds doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice line out from Max Murphy. He finished the night 0-3, ending his 10-game hitting streak.

The big moment of the game came in the eighth. Morales led off with a hot smash to Samson at short. He short hopped the ball and, with Morales still in the batters box, Samson one-hopped a throw to first that skipped by Silviano. That allowed Morales to race down the line and reach on the error. With one out Brett singled and Landon walked to load the bases. A foul out by Ely got the Saints one out away from getting out of the jam, but back-to-back two-run singles by Coulter and Tomscha put the game away as the Canaries took a five-run lead.

The same two teams play the finale of the three-game series on Sunday evening at 5:05 p.m. The Saints send RHP Matt Solter (4-2, 3.48) to the mound against Canaries RHP Tyler Danish (2-0, 2.88). The game can be seen on 45TV, streamed at aabaseball.tv and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.

Boxscore

By Sean Aronson, St. Paul Saints