ST. PAUL SAINTS 11, IOWA CUBS 8 IN IOWA
Another slugfest, but this time the Saints came marching in winners. Jeferson Morales homered in the first inning to give St. Paul a 1-0 lead. Christian Franklin led off the bottom of the first with a home run to tie it, and Jonathan Long's RBI single made it 2-1 Iowa. Iowa added one in the second on a sacrifice fly and scored two in the third on a Ben Cowles double and another sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.
St. Paul came back with five in the fourth on RBI singles by Carson McCusker, Armando Alvarez, and Anthony Prato and a two-run double by Ryan Fitzgerald. McCusker hit a three-run homer in the fifth to give the Saints a Dolly Parton lead of 9 to 5. Iowa scored two in the sixth on a Moises Ballesteros RBI single and a bases-loaded walk, but the Saints got the runs back in the eighth on Prato's RBI single and a run-scoring ground out. Iowa got one back in the ninth on a Greg Allen RBI single but did not get the tying run up to bat.
Batters: Anthony Prato was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Carson McCusker was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) a walk, two runs, and four RBIs. Yunior Severino was 2-for-5 with two runs. Jeferson Morales was 1-for-3 with a home run (his second) and two walks.
Pitchers: Randy Dobnak pitched four innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four. Huascar Ynoa pitched 1.1 scoreless innings despite walking three.
Opponents: Moises Ballesteros was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. Kevin Alcantara was 2-for-5 with two runs. Christian Franklin was 1-for-3 with a home run (his second), two walks, and two runs. Riley Martin struck out three and walked one in two shutout innings.
Stats: Anthony Prato is batting .316. Carson McCusker is batting .306 with an OPS of 1.098. Ryan Fitzgerald is batting .304 with an OPS of .919. Anthony Misiewicz has an ERA of 2.35. Ryan Jensen has an ERA of 2.84
Record: St. Paul is 7-9, in ninth place, 5.5 games behind Columbus.
TULSA DRILLERS 7, WICHITA WIND SURGE 6 IN TULSA
Wichita is not enjoying living on Tulsa time, as they dropped another to the Drillers. It started well, as a Rubel Cespedes RBI single was followed by a two-run homer by Kala'i Rosario, giving Wichita a 3-0 lead. Damon Keith homered in the second to cut the lead to 3-1, but in the fourth Aaron Sabato hit a two-run homer and Tyler Dearden followed with a solo shot to make it 6-1 Wind Surge.
That was as good as it would get, though. Jose Ramos homered in the sixth to make it 6-2, and Ramos struck again in the seventh with a grand slam, tying the score. It stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth, when singles by Taylor Young, Chris Newell, and Yeiner Fernandez produced the deciding run.
Batters: Aaron Sabato was 4-for-4 with a two-run homer. Kala'i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second. Tyler Dearden was 2-for-4 with a home run.
Pitchers: Aaron Rozek struck out eight in five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and no walks. Joel Cesar pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.
Opponents: Jose Ramos was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his third and fourth) and five RBIs. Damon Keith was 2-for-4 with a home run. Yeiner Fernandez was 2-for-4. Jeisson Cabrera struck out four and walked one in two shutout innings. Antonio Knowles pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits. Jorge Benitez pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.
Stats: Aaron Sabato is batting .500 with an OPS of 1.404. Tyler Dearden is batting .400 with an OPS of .983. Kyler Fedco is batting .357 with an OPS of 1.264. Joel Cesar has an ERA of 3.86.
Record: Wichita is 6-7, in fourth place, three games behind Arkansas.
CEDAR RAPIDS AT PEORIA
It was suspended in the top of the fourth inning with Cedar Rapids ahead 8-3. Peoria scored the first two runs on a Ryan Campos first-inning two-run homer. Misael Urbina hit a three-run homer in the second to put Cedar Rapids up 3-2. Michael Curialle tripled and scored in the bottom of the second to tie it 3-3. The Kernels scored three more in the third on RBI singles by Khadim Diaw and Nate Baez and an RBI double by Kevin Maitan. They added two more in the fourth on a double by Baez. Alejandro Hidalgo pitched all three innings for Cedar Rapids. It appears that the game has been scheduled to be completed today.
BRADENTON MARAUDERS 6, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 1 IN FORT MYERS
Bradenton jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second, with two runs scoring on an error and a third on a Carlos Caro single. They added a run in the seventh on another error, Derek Berg hit a solo homer in the eighth, and another error allowed a run to score in the ninth. The lone Fort Myers run came in the eighth on a Jose Rodriguez home run. It was a "more errors than hits" game for Fort Myers, as they had two hits and made four errors.
Batters: Jose Rodriguez was 1-for-2 with a home run (his second) and a walk.
Pitchers: Jason Doktorczyk struck out ten in five innings, giving up three unearned runs on four hits and no walks. Michael Tonkin struck out three in two innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits. Of the six Bradenton runs, only one was earned.
Opponents: Derek Berg was 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs. Carlos Caro was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Matt Ager struck out three and walked two in three shutout innings, giving up no hits. Victor Cabreja struck out four and walked one in four shutout innings, giving up no hits.
Stats: Poncho Ruiz is batting .357 with an OPS of .864. Jay Thomason has an OPS of .939. Byron Chourio has an OPS of .825. Jason Doktorczyk has an ERA of 1.54. Michael Tonkin has an ERA of 0.00.
Record: Fort Myers is 6-7, tied for third with Dunedin and Lakeland, two games behind Clearwater.
TODAY'S TILTS
1:00 Wichita (Connor Prielipp, 0-1, 7.71) at Tulsa (Jacob Meador, 0-2, 11.05)
3:08 St. Paul at Iowa--no starters listed
5:00 Cedar Rapids at Peoria--completion of suspended game
5:05 Bradenton (Peyton Stumbo, 0-1, 6.00) at Fort Myers (Dasan Hill, 0-0, 2.45)
6:00 Wichita (Darren Bowen, 1-0, 2.00) at Tulsa (Jerming Rosario, 1-1, 3.00)*
7:05 Cedar Rapids (Tanner Hall, 0-0, 9.00) at Peoria (Hansel Rincon, 0-0, 0.00)
* I don't remember a Twins affiliate playing a split, day-night doubleheader before.
