COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 3, ST. PAUL SAINTS 2 IN COLUMBUS (10 INNINGS)
Once again the Saints scored two early, and once again it was enough until it wasn't. In the third, Emmanuel Rodriguez singled home a run and a bases-loaded walk brought home another. The Clippers got one back in the sixth, but it was still 2-1 going to the bottom of the ninth. Angel Martinez led off the inning with a double and scored on a Petey Halpin single to tie it. The Saints failed to score the Manfred Man in the tenth, and it cost them as Will Brennan, who apparently kills the Twins even when he's in the minors, singled home the deciding run. The Saints stranded twelve men and were 1-for-10 with men in scoring position. They drew ten walks, but could manage only five hits.
Batters: Ryan Fitzgerald was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Pitchers: Randy Dobnak pitched five shutout innings, giving up one hit and four walks and striking out three. Travis Adams struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk.
Opposition: Will Brennan was 2-for-5 with an RBI. Ryan Webb struck out five in 4.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up two hits and walking three.
St. Paul is 2-4, tied for eighth with Indianapolis, three games behind Columbus.
SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 5, WICHITA WIND SURGE 0 IN SPRINGFIELD (GAME 1)
Springfield scored three in the second on a double and three singles. Wichita managed only one hit, a two-out single by Rubel Cespedes in the second inning.
Batters: None.
Pitchers: Starter Aaron Rozek struck out five in four innings, but allowed four runs on six hits and a walk. Jaylin Nowlin pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition: Jacob Buchberger was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Max Rajcic pitched five shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out four.
WICHITA WIND SURGE 10, SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 2 IN SPRINGFIELD (GAME 2)
Apparently the Wind Surge saved all its offense for the second game. They scored six runs in the second inning on a walk. three singles, a double, and a two-run homer by Kala'i Rosario. They added two more in the third, aided by three walks, and were never threatened.
Batters: Tanner Schobel was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a run, and four RBIs. Ricardo Olivar was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Kala'i Rosario was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer. Ben Ross was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.
Pitchers: Trent Baker struck out three in three shutout innings, also walking three but allowing no hits. Joel Cesar pitched a perfect inning, striking out one. John Stankiewicz pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.
Opposition: Chase Davis was 2-for-3 with a walk.
Record: Wichita is 1-2, tied for third with Arkansas, two games behind Northwest Arkansas.
WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS 7, CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 6 IN WISCONSIN
It was another see-saw game, as the Kernels led 2-0, trailed 3-2, led 4-3, and trailed 5-4. They tied it 5-5 in the seventh on doubles by Billy Amick and Gabriel Gonzalez, but Blake Burke's RBI double in the bottom of the seventh gave the lead back to Wisconsin and Hedbert Perez' RBI triple gave them an insurance run. They needed it, because Gonzalez led off the ninth with a homer, but Cedar Rapids could not get the tying run on base.
Batters: Billy Amick was 3-for-4 with a triple, two doubles, a walk, three runs, and an RBI. Gabriel Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, and three RBIs. Kaelen Culpepper was 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, and a run. Kyle DeBarge was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
Pitchers: Starter Tanner Hall struck out six in five innings, but allowed five runs on five hits and a walk. Juan Mendez struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.
Opposition: Blake Burke was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, two runs, and three RBIs. Yophery Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a triple, a double, a walk, and three runs. Jadher Areinamo was 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Jeferson Figueroa pitched two shutout innings, walking three and striking out one.
Record: Cedar Rapids is 2-1, in third place, one game behind Beloit and Quad Cities.
PALM BEACH CARDINALS 11, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 10 IN PALM BEACH
The Mussels led 2-1 through five, but Josh Kross hit a two-run triple in a four-run sixth to give Palm Beach the lead. Won-Bin Cho hit a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 7-2, and it looked like Fort Myers was done. But no, they came back to score six runs in the eighth to take an 8-7 lead. They had only two hits in the inning, but took advantage of five walks and three errors. In the ninth, Poncho Ruiz followed three walks with a two-run single, and the Mussels were looking good with a 10-7 lead. But an error and two walks loaded the bases with none out in the ninth. A wild pitch scored one and a ground out plated another. With two out, Cade McGee hit a walk-off two run homer to end the game in favor of the Cardinals.
Batters: Poncho Ruiz was 2-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI. Daniel Pena was 1-for-4 with a home run and a walk. Dameury Pena was 1-for-2 with a home run.
Pitchers: Michael Ross struck out five in five innings, giving up one run on four hits.
Opposition: Won-Bin Cho was 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and three RBIs. Christian Martin was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Jose Cordoba was 1-for-4 with a home run and two runs. Cade McGee was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer.
Record: Fort Myers is 1-2, tied for third, one game behind Clearwater and Tampa.
TUESDAY'S TILTS
6:05 Tampa at Fort Myers
6:35 Beloit at Cedar Rapids
6:35 Midland at Wichita
6:37 Omaha at St. Paul
milb.com did not list probable starters at press time.