Gonzalez’s ninth-inning homer lifts St. Paul past Toledo, 1-0

St. Paul squeezed a 1-0 win out of a night that had the feel of October, not June, at Fifth Third Field. Five Saints pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout, Austin Voth navigated traffic for 4.2 scoreless innings, and Gabby Gonzalez broke through with a ninth-inning homer to left to settle it.

Voth gave St. Paul the kind of start that keeps a low-scoring game alive. In his second start for the Saints, he struck out eight, walked four and allowed three hits, but the real story was how he escaped the big moment. He worked out of a bases-loaded second inning by getting Tigers top prospect Max Clark to ground out, then managed another critical out in the fourth with runners on. The pressure never really let up, but Voth kept Toledo from turning any of its chances into a run before Drew Smith took over to finish the fifth.

From there, the Saints bullpen kept the game on a knife’s edge. C.J. Culpepper handled two scoreless innings, Taylor Rashi made his Saints debut after joining the organization in a trade from the Diamondbacks organization, and Raul Brito finished the job in the ninth for his third save of the season. Toledo never found the breakthrough, and the Saints retired the final 11 Mud Hens hitters to seal the shutout.

Gonzalez provided the only offense with one out in the ninth, sending his 10th homer of the season to left field after a 25-game stretch without a home run. It was his second straight game with a homer, a sharp reversal for a hitter who had gone weeks without one before breaking through twice in quick succession. That single swing was all St. Paul needed in a game that fit its June pitching surge perfectly: after carrying ERA marks above 5.00 in both April and May, the Saints lowered their June staff ERA to 3.62. The shutout was their fourth of the season, their most in a year since 2024, when they recorded six.

The contrast with the rest of the series made the 1-0 finish even more striking. Toledo won 12-4 on June 9, St. Paul answered with a 12-1 blowout on June 10, and then the clubs delivered a tight, postseason-style duel at Fifth Third Field, 406 Washington St. in Toledo’s Warehouse District.