B. J. Boyd and Mark Contreras lead the Saints.

ST. PAUL 7, IOWA 5 IN ST. PAUL

The Saints trailed 4-0, but cut it to 4-3 after five and scored three in the sixth.  Mark Contreras hit a two-run homer to give the Saints the lead.

Batting stars:  B. J. Boyd was 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs.  Ben Rortvedt was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and a double.  Tomas Telis was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Contreras was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventeenth.

Pitching stars:  Chandler Shepherd struck out four in 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Ryan Mason struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Christopher Morel was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Andrew Romine was 2-for-3.  Jared Young was 2-for-5 with a double.

Starter:  Bryan Sammons struck out three in three innings but allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk.

Good stats:  Miranda is batting .338.  Gilberto Celestino was 0-for-3 and is batting .305.

Bad stats:  Shepherd has an ERA of 5.54.  Sammons has an ERA of 6.85.

Record:  The Saints are 1-1 in the "final stretch", tied for eleventh in AAA, 1.5 games behind Jacksonville.

TODAY'S TILTS

6:30  Cedar Rapids (Casey Legumina) at Quad Cities
7:05  Northwest Arkansas at Wichita (Austin Schulfer)
7:05  Iowa at St. Paul (Charlie Barnes, 6-4, 3.88)