Saints overcome early deficit to down Goldeyes
Photo: Winnipeg Goldeyes/Twitter
July 16, 2020
By Jason Young
Winnipeg Goldeyes
SIOUX FALLS, SD – The Winnipeg Goldeyes (6-6) fell to the St. Paul Saints 7-4 at Sioux Falls Stadium on Thursday evening.
St. Paul (6-6) served as the home team in the neutral-site contest.
The Goldeyes scored in the top of the first inning for the fifth consecutive game as Kevin Lachance crossed the plate on a Kyle Martin sacrifice fly.
Winnipeg added a run in the second frame when John Nester drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a Roy Morales ground out. The RBI was the 100th of Morales’ career.
In the top of the third inning, the Goldeyes struck again when Darnell Sweeney doubled and came around to score on Martin’s single to right field.
St. Paul responded with a pair of two-out runs in the bottom of the inning. First Chesny Young drove in Mikey Reynolds with an infield single, then Nate Samson scored on a John Silviano single.
The Saints evened the score at 3-3 in the home half of the fourth inning when Max Murphy came home on a sacrifice fly by Mitch Ghelfi.
St. Paul took their first lead of the evening in the bottom of the fifth inning when Josh Allen hit a solo home run – his second of the season – making the score 4-3 Saints.
The Saints broke the game open in the seventh inning when they scored three times with two out to take a 7-3 lead. Allen doubled home Young and Silviano before himself scoring one batter later on a Murphy single.
The Goldeyes scored in the top of the ninth inning when Sweeney hit his third double of the evening to score Wes Darvill (Richmond, B.C.) before Jameson McGrane got Martin to pop up to end the ballgame. At the time, Martin represented the tying run.
St. Paul starter Matt Solter (3-0) eventually settled in and allowed just one hit over his final four innings to earn the win. Whitby, Ont., native Evan Grills (0-1) took the loss in relief for Winnipeg.
The Goldeyes return to their hub location of Fargo, North Dakota Friday to open a three-game series with the Sioux Falls Canaries at 6:00 p.m. Kevin Hilton (2-0, 1.80) will start for Winnipeg while Sioux Falls counters with right-hander Grady Wood (1-1, 6.52). All the action can be heard locally on 93.7 FM CJNU and worldwide at www.cjnu.ca