Jake Rucker sent a line drive skimming over the third-base chalk and into the left-field corner, and the crowd at Huntington Park went from ready to celebrate to silent.
Down to their final strike with two outs in the ninth, the St. Paul Saints watched Matt Wallner score from third and Cody Morissette race home behind him on Rucker’s two-run double, turning a one-run deficit into a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Clippers on Friday night.
Rucker had struck out twice and was 0-for-3 before facing Carlos Hernández with the game on the line. His only hit gave him two RBIs and rescued the Saints from an eighth inning in which a 2-1 lead disappeared almost immediately.
Marco Raya made the reversal stand. He walked Kahlil Watson with one out in the bottom of the ninth, then got Kyle Manzardo to ground into a game-ending double play for his fourth save.
The winning rally began more conventionally. Wallner singled against Rorik Maltrud, and Kala’i Rosario followed with a soft ground-ball single for his third hit of the night. Morissette forced Rosario at second, leaving runners at the corners before Hernández replaced Maltrud and retired Tristan Gray on a line drive.
That brought up Rucker, and one clean swing changed the night.
The moment fit the uncomplicated hitting approach Saints hitting coach Sean Schlechter described before the game.
“When you get a pitch in the strike zone, you take a good swing on it and you try to get it on the barrel and you try to move it forward. And it’s as simple as that.”
— Sean Schlechter, St. Paul Saints Hitting Coach
St. Paul needed that late answer because Columbus had struck quickly against Garrett Acton in the eighth. Kody Huff opened the inning by lifting his 23rd home run to right-center, a ball that kept carrying until it cleared the fence and tied the game. Blake Perkins followed with a drive to the wall in right and slid into third with a triple. Dom Nuñez’s sacrifice fly brought him home for a 3-2 Clippers lead.
Acton allowed two earned runs in the inning but improved to 5-0 after the Saints’ comeback.
Before the late exchange, St. Paul had twice built a one-run advantage. Morissette supplied the first in the second inning, driving a 2-1 pitch deep to right-center for his 17th home run.
Columbus tied it in the fourth, but Rosario restored the Saints’ lead in the sixth. Aaron Sabato singled, moved to second on Wallner’s groundout and scored when Rosario lined a double down the right-field line. Rosario finished 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, accounting for three of St. Paul’s eight hits.
The Saints’ pitching staff kept the game within reach until the eighth. Kendry Rojas and Alejandro Hidalgo combined for six strikeouts over the first three scoreless innings. Ryan Gallagher followed with four innings of one-run ball, striking out three and walking two.
St. Paul’s offense did not overwhelm Columbus after scoring 16 runs the previous night. It instead found enough well-timed contact: Morissette’s homer, Rosario’s opposite-field double and, finally, Rucker’s shot down the line.
Schlechter said the Saints’ best work this season has come from hitters carrying a clear plan to the plate and trusting themselves to execute it.
“And I think that’s the piece to what we’ve done so well is we’ve sent hitters up to the plate with a good plan approach and a clear mind and just trusting in their ability to execute those things.”
— Sean Schlechter, St. Paul Saints Hitting Coach
With the game reduced to one strike and one swing, Rucker executed—and left Columbus with no time to answer.