It was something of a pitching duel as the Saints returned to CHS Field to begin the post-midsummer break portion of their schedule — a pitching duel punctuated by four home runs.
A trio of fifth-inning solo round trippers was enough for St. Paul to defeat visiting Louisville 3-1, with the Bats’ lone run coming on a seventh-inning blast.
After four low-key innings dominated by Saints starter Jack Anderson and his Louisville counterpart Jose Franco, Cody Morissette got the scoring started with his seventh homer of the season. Morissette shot to right actually left the stadium and bounced off into the Frogtown night.
Not to be outdone, Noah Cardenas launched his seventh homer of the summer two batters later to put the hosts up 2-0 and turn the lineup over to leadoff hitter Walker Jenkins.
The Twins’ top prospect joined the festivities with his fourth homer of this campaign, also over the right field wall.
St. Paul had a golden opportunity to do much more damage in the sixth, loading the bases with nobody out. However, three straight Saints batters went down swinging as the score remained 3-0.
The shutout was ruined in the seventh, as Louisville’s Michael Chavis homered. However, that was all the offense the Bats could muster up on a five-hit night.
Pitcher Cole Sands, who just arrived in St. Paul from the Twins’ Florida Coast League team, earned the win with two innings of one-hit, three-strikeout relief after taking over for Anderson in the fourth. Cody Laweryson claimed the save after completing a flawless final four hours of the game.
Cardenas was the lone Saints batter with more than one hit, going 2 for 4 as St. Paul logged seven total hits.
St. Paul and Louisville go at it again with a 4:37 p.m. start. The Saints send Ryan Gallagher (2-4, 7.44 ERA) to the mound against Jose Acuna (1-0, 5.40 ERA) of the Bats.
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