Saints Beat RailCats 5-0, Maintain Perfect Home Record

(photo credit: Stevie Larson)

The Saints jerseys may have been upside down on Friday night, but their bats were right-side up, as the Saints defeated the Gary SouthShore RailCats 5-0 on Stranger Things night.

Eddie Medina got the start for the Saints and carried them all the way through the seventh inning giving up just six hits and recording four strikeouts. He had plenty of run support, and it started early.

Max Murphy hit a double in the bottom of the first inning and ended up scoring on a single to center field off the bat of Jayce Boyd to put the Saints up 1-0.

The score was deadlocked at that point until the bottom of the fourth inning when Boyd led off with a single and advanced to third on a double from Noah Perio Jr. Both scored when Dante Bichette Jr. singled to center field to extend the lead to 3-0.

The Saints added another run in the fifth when Murphy again recorded an extra-base hit, this one a triple to center field to lead off the inning. He scored when Brady Shoemaker singled to left field.

Shoemaker was quickly retired as part of a 5-4-3 double play. Perio recorded a two-out single that kept the inning alive for a short time but was retired when Bichette hit into a fielder’s choice.

The Saints got another run for good measure in the sixth inning when Josh Allen got a two-out single and stole second base to set him up to score when Richard Prigatano singled to center field.

That was all the offense that the Saints mustered on the night, as they went down in order in the final two innings. The RailCats almost scored in the top of the ninth inning and it all started with one of the weirdest plays you will ever see in baseball.

Andy Paz started the inning with a ground ball up the first base line that started in foul territory but spun back into fair territory. Jayce Boyd went to field the ball but the spin took it right past him and Paz reached on what ended up being scored as an error on the first baseman. Mitch Glasser followed with a walk that put two runners on with nobody out for Collin Willis, who flew out to center field for out number one.

The next batter was Garrett Copeland, who hit a sharp ground ball behind first base that Boyd made a nice diving play on and flipped to pitcher Tom Wilhelmsen for the out. The last hope for the RailCats was Wilfredo Giminez who grounded out to the shortstop to end the game.

The Saints and RailCats will be back at CHS Field on Saturday for game two of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. The Saints will send Matt Solter to the mound while the RailCats will counter with Jeff McKenzie.

Notes

  • With Allen’s stolen base in the sixth, the Saints extended their streak of consecutive successful stolen base attempts to start the season. They now have eight attempts, and all have been successful.
  • This was the fourth game between the two games on the season, with eight more to go. Both teams have won two games after the RailCats took two games from the Saints last weekend in Gary.
  • The Saints have yet to lose a regular season game at home this season after sweeping the Chicago Dogs earlier this week.

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(photo credit: Stevie Larson)

The Gary Southshore Railcats entered Friday night’s game against the St. Paul Saints with their backs up against the wall. They were down 2-0 in the best-of-five […]

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