Lots of homers for the Saints. Christian Encarncaion-Strand slumped to 1-for-4 and is only batting .714.
ST. PAUL 15, LOUISVILLE 6 IN LOUISVILLE
Two-run homers by Kyle Garlick and Mark Contreras, both in the fifth inning, gave the Saints a 9-4 lead.
Contreras was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), three runs and three RBIs.
Chance Sisco was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.
Curtis Terry was 2-for-3 with a home run, a double, two walks, and three runs.
Garlick was 2-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and three RBIs.
Daniel Robertson was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, a walk, and two runs.
Jermaine Palacios was 2-for-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.
Starter Jake Faria struck out five in 3.1 innings, but allowed four runs on two hits and four walks.
Chi Chi Gonzalez pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk and striking out four.
Juan Minaya pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.
The Saints are 5-1, in first place in the International League West, one game ahead of Indianapolis and Nashville.
TULSA 7, WICHITA 3 IN WICHITA
The Drillers scored five runs in the first inning.
Edouard Julien was 2-for-4.
Starter Chris Vallimont pitched just two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs on five hits and a walk and striking out one.
Kody Funderburk struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on one hit and two walks.
Tyler Viza pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.
Zach Featherstone pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Steven Klimek struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
The Wind Surge is 0-3, in fifth (last) place in the Texas League North, three games behind Tulsa.
CEDAR RAPIDS 2, BELOIT 0 IN BELOIT
The Kernels scored single runs in the first and eighth.
Sawyer Gipson-Long struck out five in four shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks.
Bobby Milacki pitched two shutout innings, walking one and striking out one.
Melvi Acosta pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.
Osiris German pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.
The Kernels are 3-0, in first place in the Midwest League West, one game ahead of Quad Cities and Wisconsin.
FORT MYERS 6, CLEARWATER 3 IN CLEARWATER
The Mighty Mussels scored three in the seventh to take a 6-2 lead.
Kyler Fedco was 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and three RBIs.
Noah Cardenas was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.
Travis Adams pitched five innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out three.
Jackson Hicks pitched a perfect inning.
Juan Mendez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.
The Mighty Mussels are 3-0, in first place in the Florida State League West, one game ahead of Bradenton and Tampa.
Wichita needs a win!
And Mars needs guitars!
Hey Jeff -- I noticed Mariners reliever Matthew Festa in yesterday's game; any relation to Mussels' starter David Festa?
I can't find anything to confirm or deny. I'm skeptical, because I did find a couple of articles about David when he was in college and was getting drafted, and it seems like if he had a relative in pro ball that would've been mentioned. But I can't say for sure.
I'm kinda doubting it too -- you'd think there'd be something mentioned somewhere.
B-R has David Festa born in NJ and Matthew Festa born in NYC. The two cities aren't too far away (about 20 miles) but Matthew went to high school on Staten Island and that would have been about six years after David was born. To be related, the family would have had to live in Brooklyn, move to NJ, then I guess split up so one half went to Staten Island while the other remained in NJ for David to attend high school close to his birth city.
Plus, they had to hate each other enough to never mention each other in any in depth interviews, even more unlikely.
I mean, if one picked their mom and one picked their dad, maybe that's just consistent?
And now we see how conspiracy theories take hold.