Woods Richardson Dominates, But Saints Fall to Bats 5-1

September 15, 2022 – International League (IL) – St. Paul Saints News Release

ST. PAUL, MN – Simeon Woods Richardson continues to get better each time he goes out for the St. Paul Saints. On Wednesday night, he may have pitched his best game since being called up on August 17. He tossed 6.0 shutout innings, but the offense couldn’t provide him any run support in a 5-1 loss to the Louisville Bats at CHS Field in front of 4,215.

Woods Richardson didn’t allow a hit to the first eight batters he faced before Isiah Gilliam blooped a single into left-center with one out in the third. A line out to right that turned into a double play ended the inning.

From there, Woods Richardson retired nine straight batters before giving up a two out single to Mike Siani in the sixth. Siani stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher Chris Williams. That didn’t faze Woods Richardson who got Lorenzo Cedrola to fly out to right to end the inning. Woods Richardson went 6.0 shutout innings allowing two hits while walking one and striking out four, lowering his ERA to 2.55. Since giving up a three-run homer in his first Triple-A start on August 21, his ERA is 1.54 allowing just four earned runs in 23.2 innings pitched while fanning 24.

The first run of the game came in the top of the seventh and it started with two outs and nobody on for the Bats. TJ Hopkins dropped a fly ball double just out of the reach of a diving Mark Contreras in right-center. Leonardo Rivas walked and a broken bat fly ball single to left by Michael De Leon scored Hopkins putting the Bats up 1-0.

The Saints would tie it up in the bottom of the inning as Contreras led off with a double to right-center, moved to third on a fly out, and scored on a single to left by Nash Knight.

The Bats took the lead for good in the eighth. With Siani on at first following a fielder’s choice, and two outs, Juniel Querecuto walked. After a double steal, Cristian Santana lined a two-run single into center scoring both runners giving the Bats a 3-1 lead.

In the ninth, the Bats added a pair of insurance runs. Rivas led off with an infield single up the third base side. De Leon doubled to right putting runners at second and third. An RBI single from Michael Papierski and a sacrifice fly by Gilliam increased the lead to 5-1.

The same two teams meet in the third game of the six-game series on Thursday night at 7:07 p.m. at CHS Field. The Saints send RHP Jordan Balazovic (0-6, 7.82) to the mound against Bats…