Clutch Hitting Gives Saints 2-0 Series Lead
Light-hitting Jake Krause drove in the eventual winning run with a seventh-inning single, and the St. Paul Saints got a pair of two-out insurance runs in the ninth inning, as they beat the Grand Prairie AirHogs 5-2 at Midway Stadium on Thursday, taking a commanding two games to none lead in the best-of-five American Association Championship Series.
Grand Prairie got ahead with runs in the first and third, but did not score again against four St. Paul pitchers. Danny Figueroa led off the game with a triple and scored on Stephen Douglas's infield single. Cesar Nicolas drove an RBI double to right-center off Alberto Rolon in the fourth to give Grand Prairie a two-run cushion, but Rolon held the AirHogs off the board until he departed with two outs in the seventh.
AirHogs starter Tim Brown (0-1) was brilliant the first three innings, facing the minimum nine hitters while getting nine ground balls and a caught stealing. But after getting the first out of the fourth, Adam Frost singled, and Ryan Patterson lined a sinking shot to right. Douglas dove for it and it hit off his glove, allowing Frost to score from first and Patterson to go to second. Ole Sheldon came up and lined the first pitch he saw into center to score Patterson and tie the game.
The game remained tied into the late innings, and Rolon departed with runners at the corners and two outs in the seventh. Julio DePaula (2-1) came on and got Chris McMurray on a groundout to third to end that inning, and the Saints got the lead for good in the bottom half.
Jason Cooper led off with a double and went to third on Aharon Eggleston's sacrifice bunt. Krause came in to the at-bat with two hits in his first 26 playoff tries, but lined a single up the middle to make it 3-2. St. Paul got two more with two outs in the eighth, on a base hit by Richard Mercado and an error, and Tyler Walker closed things out with a scoreless ninth to get his first save of the playoffs.
