The St. Paul Saints ( 10-6 ) lost to the Fort Worth Cats ( 8-8 ) by the score of 6 to 2.
…well, we can now safely characterize this as a slump. whereas in the beginning of the season (remember that 7-game winning streak to start the season?) the saints got all of their hits in bunches and always came through with the clutch hit, they can do nothing of the sort, while sioux city and fort worth has seemingly capitalized on every opportunity they’ve had over the past four days. it also didn’t help that cats starter dan grybash was on his game last night, tossing 7 innings of 6-hit ball, surrendering only 2 runs (1 earned) on 2 walks while striking out 5. kyle yates was the catholic aid reliever of the game after taking over for grybash, as he threw 2 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up only 1 hit while striking out 3. on the other side, justin lord’s line was not pretty (5 IP, 5 earned runs, 10 hits, 1 walk, 5 ks), but he really wasn’t that bad. he made two mistakes, and the cats made him pay both times with a 3-run homer and a solo shot. dustin bolton was good in relief, throwing 2.2 innings of 1-run baseball, giving up 3 hits and 1 walk, while john wesley came in to clean up bolton’s mess and was phenomenal, throwing 1.1, walking 1, and striking out the side in the cats’ half of the 9th. this game was nearly a carbon copy of the last home game against sioux city, as the saints fell behind badly in the middle innings and could never quite come back, despite threatening. the cats scratched across (pun intended) one run in the 3rd, as jake gautreau singled in nelson teilon, who had doubled with 1 out in the inning. in the 4th, lord looked like he was settling in, as he struck out steve butler with john allen on at 1st and 1 out, bringing up the 9-hitter osiel flores with a runner on at 1st and 2 outs. flores, in perhaps the game’s most important at-bat, singled to right, moving allen to 3rd. the cats then turned the lineup card over, and brian fryer delivered with a 3-run bomb to break open a 4-0 game. nelson teilon added a solo shot in the 5th, and, just like that, the saints trailed 5-0. in the bottom of the 5th, the saints loaded the bases with 1 out, but andrew bennett hit into a sharp 4-6-3 DP to end that rally. the saints finally got on the scoreboard in the 6th when jason colson hit his first homer of the year. the saints continued to chip away in the 7th, as ryan priddy singled in brent krause to cut the deficit to 5-2. however, the cats did what good teams do — they responded after giving up a run, as john allen singled in nelson teilon with 2 outs and teilon on at 3rd after a double and a sacrifice bunt. teilon finished the game a triple short of the cycle with an RBI and 2 runs scored. much to the saints’ dismay, the pitching then took over, with john wesley and kyle yates combining for 6 consecutive strikeouts before the saints went down quietly in the bottom of the 9th. time to rebound on bobblefoot night (more to come on that on saintsblog today, and, let me say, i couldn’t be more excited to help call this game tonight), same place, same time…
…talk to ya then…
Tags: Fort Worth Cats, postGame
