Saints strand runners, fall 11-7 after power-filled loss to Columbus
St. Paul reached base in every inning and still went 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, a wasteful night that turned a power show into an 11-7 loss.
The Saints did almost everything they needed to do except the one thing that decides tight Triple-A games. They had a runner in scoring position in every inning, were never retired in order, and still finished 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position in an 11-7 loss to Columbus at CHS Field.
The game opened with the kind of swing that can tilt a scoreboard fast. George Valera launched a two-run homer in the first for Columbus, but St. Paul answered in the second with pure damage of its own. Aaron Sabato crushed his eighth homer of the season, a two-run shot that tied it, and Hendry Mendez followed with his first Triple-A homer, a three-run drive to center that put the Saints ahead 5-2.
That lead did not last. Cooper Ingle answered in the third with a three-run homer to pull Columbus even at 5, and from there the Clippers kept matching St. Paul’s power with enough contact and enough traffic to stay in the fight. Columbus scored 11 runs on just 6 hits, helped along by 9 walks, while the Saints kept putting men on base and kept missing the big hit that would have broken the game open.
That is the part that should stick with St. Paul. The Saints got a leadoff man aboard in four of the final innings and kept creating pressure, but those possessions rarely turned into the extra hit or sac fly that cashes in the work before it. In a game built on homers, the margin was the empty at-bat with runners out there. When the long ball comes with men on base, the Saints can pile up crooked numbers in a hurry. When it does not, the offense can look louder than it actually is.
That tension has defined this stretch. St. Paul entered the day leading all of baseball in home runs, coming off an eight-run half of a doubleheader sweep of Columbus on May 15, its first doubleheader sweep since 2021, and a season-high four games over .500 at 23-19. But the same homestand has already included a 10-run outburst on May 12 and an 8-3 loss on May 13, and Saturday fit the pattern too well: plenty of power, plenty of traffic, not enough finishing. If the Saints keep living off homers without converting runners in scoring position, nights like this will keep turning from frustrating to expensive.
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