The Saints’ eighth inning had already become a procession by the time Gabriel Gonzalez stepped to the plate. Four walks, a hit batter and a balk had strained Columbus’ bullpen; Alan Roden’s two-run single had broken it open. Gonzalez supplied the punctuation, driving a ball deep into the left-center-field seats to cap a seven-run inning and turn a competitive night into a 16-6 St. Paul rout Thursday at Huntington Park.
The two-run shot was Gonzalez’s 16th homer and St. Paul’s 249th of the season, tying Greensboro for the most in baseball. It was also the last surge in a relentless stretch: The Saints scored in six consecutive innings, from the third through the eighth, and answered the Clippers’ only meaningful rally with 10 runs over the next three frames.
Eight of the nine St. Paul starters had a hit, and each of the first eight hitters scored at least once. The Saints finished with 16 runs on 15 hits, overwhelming six Columbus pitchers before position player Dom Nuñez handled the ninth.
Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with two hit-by-pitches and three RBIs. His homer came immediately after Roden’s single brought home Cody Morissette and Jake Rucker. Earlier in the inning, Morissette and Rucker drew bases-loaded walks, and Ian Daugherty added an RBI groundout.
It was that kind of night: pressure from nearly every spot in the order, followed eventually by power.
Daugherty, the lightly used catcher at the bottom of the lineup, delivered the first run in the third. After Tanner Schobel walked and Rucker singled, Daugherty reached down for a low sweeper and looped it into left field to score Schobel. Gonzalez was hit with the bases loaded later in the inning, making it 2-0.
Rucker doubled into the left-center gap in the fourth, restoring a two-run lead and putting distance between himself and the 0-for-23 skid he carried into the game. He finished 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.
Matt Wallner supplied the Saints’ first major power blow in the fifth. With Gonzalez aboard, Wallner caught a fastball over the middle and sent it 432 feet to right field at nearly 112 mph. His 25th homer of the season was his 66th in a Saints uniform, leaving him one short of the franchise career record. Wallner also doubled and was hit by a pitch in a 2-for-5 night.
St. Paul built a 6-1 lead, but Columbus briefly pulled itself back into the game against C.J. Culpepper. Ralphy Velazquez doubled home Cooper Ingle, then Kody Huff lined a two-run double into the left-field corner to cut the margin to 6-4.
The Saints did not let the rally linger. Gonzalez was hit by a pitch in the sixth, Hendry Mendez doubled him to third, and Morissette drove both home with a sharp single to center against Franco Aleman. Roden added an RBI single in the seventh before the eighth-inning flood.
Morissette reached four times, going 1-for-3 with three walks and two RBIs. Daugherty drove in a career-high three runs, while Mendez collected three hits and scored three times.
The offensive barrage backed a solid opening turn from Trent Baker, who allowed one earned run over four innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. Ricky Castro followed Culpepper and earned the win with four innings of two-run relief, striking out four and walking two.
Pitching coach Carlos Hernandez had pointed before the game to Baker’s and Castro’s progress during the season.
“Baker have done a great job. I mean, he bounced back really well. Ricky Castro, he pitched well too.”
— Carlos Hernandez, St. Paul Saints Pitching Coach
Castro held Columbus scoreless in the sixth and seventh while the Saints widened the gap. George Valera homered in the eighth and singled home another run in the ninth, but by then Gonzalez’s drive had long since reduced those runs to details.