Vinny Nittoli had never taken the mound in professional baseball as a starting pitcher before Tuesday’s game, but if he pitches like he did against the Chicago Dogs, it won’t be his last start.
Nittoli pitched six innings, giving up two hits and recording a career-high 10 strikeouts.
“Vinny pitched great,” manager George Tsamis said. “He had all his stuff working and gave us a great outing tonight.”
He got plenty of run support, most of it coming in the third inning when the Saints piled on three runs and nearly hit for the cycle in the inning. It all started when Josh Allen hit a one-out single — he then scored when Richard Prigatano hit a double that hit high off the right-field wall at CHS Field.
Prigatano scored when Max Murphy tripled to the deepest part of the park in center field.
The next batter was Brady Shoemaker, who ripped a double to score Murphy and make it a 3-0 lead. Shoemaker would end the inning at third base after two straight groundouts to end the inning.
St. Paul tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning after Murphy and Shoemaker reached on back-to-back walks and moved up a base each on a wild pitch. That set up Noah Perio Jr., who delivered a base hit to right field to drive in both runs and extend the lead to 5-0.
That spelled the end of the night for Chicago starting pitcher Tommy Thrope, who gave up six hits and five runs in 4.2 innings. He was replaced by Tyson Perez who got Dante Bichette Jr. to fly out to end the inning.
Neither team scored again until the Dogs attempted to rally in the top of the ninth inning. Mat Telesco started it off by drawing a leadoff walk and advanced to second on a passed ball.
He scored when Craig Maddox hit a double to break up the shutout attempt. After a groundout from Wilfredo Rodriguez, Treyson Vavra singled and advanced to second on defensive indifference, putting runners on second and third for Matt Dean, who ended the game with a groundout to third base.
The Saints and Dogs will finish their three-game series on Wednesday evening on Military Appreciation Night. The Saints will send Jake Esch to the mound while the Dogs will counter with Josh Goosen-Brown. First pitch is 7:05 p.m.
Notes
- Prior to the game, the Saints unveiled “Monument Pork.” It is a tribute to their past pig mascots that is a play on the New York Yankees Monument Park. Three pigs were inducted into it before the game, The Saint (1993), Notorious P.I.G. aka Piggie Smalls (2003) and Little Red Porkette (2016). Each pig has a monument on display in the exhibit.
- In other American Association happenings, former MLB slugger Rafael Palmeiro hit his first home run since 2005 on Monday night against the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks.
- Redhawks manager Michael Schlact made news of his own on Tuesday when he picked up his first career ejection as manager. He was ejected in the top of the seventh inning after arguing balls and strikes.
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