Saints top Omaha for 60th victory of season
· Yahoo Sports
St. Paul scored three runs in the top of the first inning and made that margin hold in a 4-1 win at Omaha on Thursday night.
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The win was the 60th in 104 games this season for the Saints, which is the earliest that the team has reached that victory plateau in its Triple-A era.
Kaelen Culpepper led off the game with a single before Kyler Fedko walked to put two on with nobody out. The Storm Chasers did manage to earn that first out of the inning before Aaron Sabato strode to the plate and crushed a three-run homer to left, his 19th of the season, putting the Saints up 3-0.
St. Paul’s pitching staff has the third-best ERA in the International League since the All-Star Break and that dominance was on full display Thursday. Starter Ryan Gallagher and three relievers combined on a three hitter and struck out 13 Omaha batters on the night.
Gallagher went 5 2/3 innings, striking out six. He allowed three hits with an equal number of walks as well as the Storm Chasers’ lone run, which came in the third. The quality start improved his record to 4-5 while lowering his ERA from 6.82 to 6.38.
From there, relievers Eduardo Salazar, John Klein and Julian Merryweather kept their hosts completely off the basepaths for the remainder of the game, striking out seven while giving up nary a hit or walk. Salazar and Klein each earned holds (the third of the season for each), while Merryweather was credited with his first save of the summer.
St. Paul managed just four hits as well, with two of those coming from home run hero Sabato. The slugger also hit a double, while Culpepper and Walker Jenkins had one base knock apiece.
The same two teams meet again in Omaha for the fourth game of a six-game series at 7:05 p.m. Friday night. The Saints send LHP Aaron Rozek (2-1, 2.92) to the mound against Storm Chasers RHP Mitch Spence (2-4, 5.35).