After a two-week road trip, the St. Paul Saints were glad to get back to their home field, and the fans were treated to a show, as center fielder Alonzo Harris hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Saints a 6-5 win over the Sioux City Explorers.
St. Paul strikes first
The Saints got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning when Tanner Vavra hit a one-out double to right field. He advanced to third when Nate Hanson flew out. Harris then drew a walk, and immediately stole second base to bring up Tony Thomas, who hit a single, which allowed Vavra to score and advanced Harris to third base.
Willie Argo then stepped up and knocked a home run to clear the bases and give the Saints the early 3-0 lead. Tony Caldwell followed with a walk, which was followed by Aaron Gretz getting an infield single. After a passed ball moved the runners up a base, Sam Maus ended the inning with a ground ball to the shortstop.
The Saints tacked on another run in the second when Breland Almadova drew a leadoff walk. He advanced to second when Vavra singled, and advanced to third when Hanson hit into a fielder's choice that saw Vavra retired for the first out of the inning. Harris then stepped up and hit a sacrifice fly, which scored Almadova and extended the lead to 4-0.
The Explorers got two of the runs back in the fourth when Nate Samson hit a one-out single. The next batter was Tommy Mendonca and he followed suit with a two-run home run. Despite a couple of hits, the Explorers were unable to get any more runs across in the inning.
They did get two more runs in the sixth inning, though, when Mendonca hit a one-out single. He advanced to third when Jarek Cunningham doubled. After Matty Johnson drew a walk, Tim Colwell singled to right field to score Mendonca and move everybody up a base. Ralph Hernandez then reached base on a fielder's choice to Gretz, who tagged out Cunningham for the second out of the inning.
Derrick Robinson then stepped up and hit a single to right field, which allowed both Johnson and Colwell to score, and tied the game. They were unable to take the lead, however, as Michael Lang hit into a fielder's choice at third base for the final out of the inning.
The score was still tied at five in the ninth inning when Harris stepped up to the plate with one out. Harris hit a home run to end the game, giving the Saints their first home win in two weeks.
The two teams will play again on Tuesday evening at 7:05 p.m.
Quick hits
- With his single in the first inning, Thomas extended his hitting streak to 25 games, just two short of the Saints all-time record.
- This walk-off home run wasn't the first this season for Harris, as he hit a walk-off in the Saints final exhibition game to defeat the Sioux Falls Canaries.
- After this series, the Saints will hit the road again, as they will go to Winnipeg to face the Goldeyes before going to Sioux City to face the Explorers again. After that, they will return home to host the Goldeyes.