Saints defeat Bats for ninth consecutive time

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The Saints beat the Bats.

St. Paul extended its franchise-record winning streak against a single team to nine games with a 9-4 besting of visiting Louisville on a balmy Saturday night at CHS Field.

After a mostly quiet first inning, the Saints exploded for five runs in the second inning and four more in the third to take a 9-0 lead on the slump-shouldered Bats.

Cody Morissette got the fireworks started with an inside-the-park three-run homer on a flare to straightaway center that slipped under the glove of a diving outfielder Will Benson and didn’t stop until it hit the wall. Morissette sprinted around the bases as Hendry Mendez and Kala’i Rosario both crossed home plate. The second baseman himself slide home as the throw went wayward to put the hosts up 3-0.

Ben Ross followed with a more traditional over-the-wall homer to center to score himself and Walker Jenkins as St. Paul took a 5-0 lead into the third. But they weren’t done yet.

After Louisville had the audacity to score a lone run on a throwing error in the top of the third, the Saints struck back for four more runs in the bottom half of the frame. Tanner Schobel‘s RBI single preceded a two-run homer from David Bañuelos to wrap up St. Paul’s scoring on the night with the home side up 9-1.

The Bats logged three runs with a homer in each of the fifth and sixth innings, but could draw no further before the curtain came down on yet another Saints victory over their International League rival.

Other than Louisville’s brief round-tripper uprising in the middle frames, St. Paul pitching had little trouble, tying a season-high 16 batters. Saints starter Trent Taker struck out seven over 3 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on one hit while walking one.

He was relieved with two outs in the fourth by Alejandro Hidalgo (3-1, 6.54 ERA), who snared the win after allowing one hit — a solo home run — with no walks and three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. Ruddy Gomez and Woo-Suk Go finished off the visitors by tossing two innings apiece.

It was a nine-hit night for the hosts, with Jenkins and Ross each going 2 for 5 to lead the way.

St. Paul (66-46) has not lost to Louisville (50-61) since being blanked 3-0 on Sunday, June 28. The Saints will look to take their dominance over the Bats into next season when the two teams meet on Sunday in the season finale between the clubs.

Aaron Rozek (2-1, 3.22) goes to the hill for St. Paul, with Louisville placing their hopes in former MLB pitcher Kent Emanuel (no record). First pitch is scheduled for 2:07 p.m.

Emanuel, who has not pitched in the majors or minors since 2024, is making his debut for Louisville after its parent club, the Cincinnati Reds, signed him to a minor-league contract on Friday. He has been pitching in the independent leagues since last pitching for Jacksonville in the Miami Marlins organization.

St. Paul finished the night with the second-best overall record in IL play, just 1.5 games back of Rochester (67-44), and are now 20 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2023 season.

The Saints are also part of a five-team logjam at the top of the IL second-half standings. Holding a record of 24-14 over the latter portion of the season, St. Paul is tied with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Indianapolis for second place — just one-half game behind the league-leading duo of Worchester and Durham.