Omaha edges St. Paul 7-6 behind Ragans' rehab start and late rally

Dustin Dickerson turned a tight Triple-A night into a milestone when he sent a changeup over the left-field wall for his first home run at the level, a two-run blast that pushed Omaha past St. Paul 7-6 at CHS Field.

That swing capped a game that carried more weight than a normal May box score. Cole Ragans made his first rehab start for Omaha and gave Kansas City exactly the kind of outing it wanted, working 4.1 innings and allowing one run on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts on 68 pitches. The Royals had sent Ragans to the 15-day injured list on May 8 with left elbow impingement and valgus extension overload after he left his May 7 start with left triceps and elbow soreness, and this outing matched the club’s target of roughly four to five innings and 60 to 65 pitches.

St. Paul grabbed the first punch when Kaelen Culpepper ambushed Ragans on the first pitch of the game and launched a home run. Omaha answered in the second inning with a two-run double from Dickerson that scored Brett Squires and Luca Tresh, and Ragans settled in from there, retiring 10 straight hitters at one point as his velocity and pitch quality held up through the rehab work.

The Storm Chasers kept layering on offense. Tresh added a two-run homer in the sixth and finished 3-for-4 with three RBI, giving Omaha a middle-of-the-order lift that kept the game within reach. St. Paul kept swinging back and tied it again, setting up a ninth inning that felt like a swing game inside a swing game between two clubs separated by a game in the standings.

Gavin Cross opened the ninth with a single, and Dickerson followed by lifting his decisive homer to left for a 7-5 lead. The ball was his first Triple-A home run, and it came after he had entered the night with 10 career minor-league home runs and just two home runs in 2026 before the game. He finished 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, four RBI and a run scored, the kind of line that can change how quickly a player’s name moves through an organization.

Eric Cerantola finished it off, giving up a run but locking down his league-leading seventh save. The 2021 Royals fifth-round pick out of Mississippi State has already reached the majors this season, and his latest save preserved a win that mattered on several fronts for Omaha, which improved to 24-25. St. Paul fell to 25-24 before 6,670 fans, with the Storm Chasers needing Ragans’ rehab start, Tresh’s production and Dickerson’s late breakthrough all in one night to escape with it.