Saints hammer four homers off Verlander in 12-1 rout of Toledo

St. Paul did more than beat a rehabbing Justin Verlander. The Saints turned a matchup built around two major league names into a power surge, crushing four home runs off Verlander and rolling past the Toledo Mud Hens 12-1 on Wednesday night at Fifth Third Field. With 10,500 fans there largely to watch Verlander, the Saints made the night their own and gave the game a distinctly big-league feel in a Triple-A park.

Aaron Sabato started the damage in the second inning, launching a 405-foot leadoff homer to left on a slider at the top of the zone for his 12th of the season. Kyler Fedko followed with a leadoff homer in the third, his 15th, and Gabriel Gonzalez later added the fourth blast off Verlander with an opposite-field drive on a fastball. Verlander showed visible frustration as the Saints kept barreling pitches and turning a headline rehab assignment into a lopsided result.

Fedko was central to the rout from start to finish. He finished 2-for-3 with a homer, a single, two walks and three runs scored, one of the clearest signs that St. Paul’s offense was not just waiting for mistakes, but hunting them early in counts. The Saints kept the pressure on even after Verlander settled into the outing, and the scoreboard was already heavily tilted long before the late innings.

Mick Abel set the tone on the mound for St. Paul. He opened by allowing a leadoff single to Max Clark, then retired the next three hitters, two by strikeout, to prevent Toledo from matching the early punch. That mattered because once the Saints grabbed the lead, they never let the Mud Hens recover.

Verlander’s line was solid on paper but rough in context. He worked 5.2 innings, threw 86 pitches and struck out three, but the four-homer barrage made the start a step back as he continued returning from left hip inflammation. It was his second rehab outing, after five scoreless innings on June 2 against the Iowa Cubs, and his first appearance in Toledo since June 6, 2015, when he was 32. Eleven years later, at 43, he returned to the same park and took one of the loudest Triple-A beatings of the season.

Kenley Jansen also worked a rehab appearance later in the night, making his first outing since going on the injured list May 28 with right groin tightness and pelvic inflammation. For St. Paul, though, the story was the power display: a 12-1 rout built on four homers off Verlander and a lineup that looked aggressive, confident and relentless from the first swing.