Saint Paul, Minnesota – Winning teams find ways to win and losing teams find ways to lose. The Saint Paul Saints demonstrated they were a winning team on Wednesday afternoon. The Saints topped the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers) 8-7 in front of 7,248 fans at CHS Field. The Saints improved to 35-35 on the season and 11-5 in the month of June.

Ronny Henriquez made his first start of the season on Wednesday afternoon. Henriquez came to the Twins organization in a trade with the Texas Rangers in 2022. Since then, Henriquez had mostly appeared out of the bullpen producing strong results. He made history for the Twins on September 19^th, 2022, becoming the first player born in the 2000’s to make his Twins debut. On Wednesday, the second batter of the game, Ryan Vilade, launched a 374-foot homer off Henriquez. This gave Toledo a 1-0 lead.

The Saints wanted to tie the game in the bottom of the first, but Vilade used his defense to preserve the Mud Hens lead. With two outs, Lee was on second base and Yunior Severino singled to left field. Ryan Vilade fielded the ball and tossed a bullet to the plate where Anthony Bemboom applied the tag to stop Brooks Lee from scoring and the inning ended.

Vilade added to his performance in the third. With two outs he doubled, which allowed Riley Unroe to score, which gave Toledo a 2-0 lead. Ryan Vilade was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in 2017. Last season, Vilade was with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization where he spent the season in the minor leagues. Following the 2023 season he elected free agency and was acquired by the Detroit Tigers. He has since earned a spot on the Tigers 40-man roster and gone between the big-league club and the minor leagues.

The Saints tied the game in the third. Will Holland doubled, and Edouard Julien walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Holland and Julien pulled off a double steal, which put them at second and third respectively, with Lee on his way to the plate. For the second time this afternoon Lee doubled. This time both Holland and Julien scored, which tied the game. The Saints wanted to be sure the story of the game was not Ryan Vilade. Later that inning, Jair Camargo launched a 372-foot home run to right field. The Saints took a 5-2 lead. However, the lead was only temporary. Toledo scored four in the fourth and the Saints trailed 6-5.

Eddys Leonard hit a ball 435-feet over the batters’ eye in center field in the sixth. Leonard becomes the sixth player to hit a baseball over the batters’ eye at CHS Field. He is only the second visiting player to accomplish the task. The only other visiting player to hit a ball over the batters’ eye was Joe Dunnigan of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in 2015. Burt Reynolds (2018), Max Murphy (2019), Josh Allen (2020), and Yunior Severio (2023) accomplished this feat for the Saints. CHS Field opened in 2015.

In the seventh, Easton Lucas entered the game for Toledo, but the Saints got to him. Julien led off the inning with a walk and Brooks Lee doubled for the third time today. Three doubles in a single game was a career high for Lee, and all three came from the right side of the plate. Next, Matt Wallner walked to load the bases with nobody out. A four-pitch walk to Severino, which forced in a run and the Saints cut the lead to one. Lucas settled down and got Camargo and Alex Isola out prior to giving way to Trey Wingenter. Diego Castillo singled, which allowed Lee to score. Finally, Wallner scored on a wild-pitch and the Saints took an 8-7 lead. 

The Saints sent six different pitchers to the mound on Wednesday. Koby Funderburk picked up his third save of the season, and Nick Wittgren secured his first victory of the season. The Saints have now won eight straight games!

The Toledo Mud Hens and Saint Paul Saints meet in game three of a six-game series on Thursday night at CHS Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Toledo will send LHP Bryan Sammons (4-3, 3.26) to the mound while the Saints will counter with RHP David Festa (2-2, 3.50). The game can be seen on MiLB.TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.