The Indians homered twice in the loss
By Katie Bostic
ST. PAUL, Minn. – After the Indianapolis Indians offense scored four runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at five runs apiece, the St. Paul Saints roared back in the bottom half of the frame to take a three-run lead en route to victory at CHS Field on Friday night, 8-5.
With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh, St. Paul (68-49, 25-18) put two runners in scoring position courtesy of a hit by pitch and a two-out walk issued by Travis MacGregor (L, 1-1). Austin Martin then launched a three-run homer to take the lead back for the Saints.
St. Paul wasted no time getting on the board to start the contest. A lead-off home run from Andrew Stevenson plated the game’s first run, and the Saints tallied three more runs in the second with a two-RBI triple off the bat of Anthony Prato and an RBI single from Brooks Lee.
In the top of the fourth, Dom Nuñez launched a solo home run to right field to give Indianapolis (54-62, 21-21) their first run of the night. The home run was Nuñez’s first hit as an Indianapolis Indian.
The Saints responded to the homer with a Martin RBI single in the fifth, extending their lead to four.
The Indians put up four runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at five. After a walk was issued to Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jared Triolo smacked a single to left field, and Ryan Vilade grounded into a force out to put runners on the corners. Mason Martin followed with a two-RBI double, and in the next at-bat, Chris Owings sent a two-run blast over the left center field wall to tally the game-tying run.
Indians starter Luis Ortiz gave up nine hits with five runs and six strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work. Dauri Moreta, who began his MLB rehab assignment with Indianapolis today, struck out two batters in one inning on the mound. MLB rehabber Joe Ryan went 4.0 innings, yielding just one run on one hit while fanning seven batters for St. Paul. Brent Headrick (W, 4-2) pitched 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on three hits with four punchouts.
The Indians and Saints will face off in the penultimate game of the series tomorrow night at 8:07 PM ET. Beau Sulser (1-1, 9.82) will take the hill for Indianapolis and Simeon Woods Richardson (4-5, 5.56) will counter for St. Paul.
Originally posted on milb.com