Saints Sunk by Goldeyes at CHS Field, 8-3
ST. PAUL, MN (September 4, 2020) – The St. Paul Saints wore the road gray’s in their own home ballpark on Friday night at CHS Field. They will need to do that two more times this weekend as the Winnipeg Goldeyes are the home team. The Goldeyes made themselves right at home as the Saints lost for the sixth time in the last seven games, 8-3, in front of a sellout crowd of 1,500. The loss drops the Saints to 26-29 and they are 3.5 games out of a playoff spot with just five games left.
The Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third courtesy of a Mikey Reynolds solo homer, his seventh of the season and the first time in his eight year career he’s homered in back-to-back games.
Reynolds came calling again in the fourth. With one out Mitch Ghelfi and Drew Stankiewicz reached on back-to-back singles. Reynolds followed with an RBI single giving the Saints a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth the Goldeyes got on the board courtesy of a Darnell Sweeney solo homer, his 14th of the season, cutting the Saints lead to 2-1.
The Goldeyes took the lead in the fifth when Jordan Greene and Kevin LaChance walked with two outs. Breland Almadova tied the game with a double off the right field wall. Saints starting pitcher, Matt Solter, then stumbled on a delivery and was called for a balk forcing in LaChance which gave the Goldeyes a 3-2 lead.
In the top of the sixth Stankiewicz tied it with a solo shot to right, his first of the season.
In the bottom of the inning the first five hitters reached for the Goldeyes as Jonathan Moroney led off with a single to center. John Nester singled to left and Wes Darvill reached on a bunt single to load the bases. A walk to Jordan George forced in a run making it 4-3. Solter departed the game for reliever Paul Voelker. He was greeted with a two-run single by LaChance making it 6-3. A wild pitch score George putting the Goldeyes up 7-3.
In the seventh, Logan Hill drilled a solo homer to left-center, his sixth of the season, for the final run of the game.
The same two teams meet in game two of the three game series on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. The Saints send RHP Pete Tago (NR) to the mound against Goldeyes RHP Brandon Cumpton (2-3, 4.06). The game can be seen on the Saints Cable Network, cable access channels in the Twin Cities area, streamed at aabaseball.tv, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.
By Sean Aronson, St. Paul Saints
