John Clinger

“Just Doubles and Triples,” Williams Asks of Teammate; Saints Win, 6-3
2023 Season: Game 144 Recap – Sept. 20
By CAP’N JOHN CLINGER
After hitting a Saints triple-A franchise record 21st home run of the season last night (Wednesday) at CHS Field, Chris Williams asked teammate Jair Camargo for a small favor.
“Just doubles and triples for the rest of the week,” Williams requested of Camargo. “We laughed about it.” Before Williams’ 21st, Camargo (2023) and Brent Rooker (2021) shared the record with Williams.
The Saints defeated the Toledo MudHens, 6-3, with Williams’ 3-run blast to left field putting them ahead to stay. Their record improved to 82-63 (39-32 in the season’s 2nd half) with four games left. The local lads had hoped to win the 2nd half, then an International League playoff against Norfolk.
That outcome would have sent the Saints, as sole representative of the 20-team Il, to Las Vegas for the overall triple-A championship series against the 10-team California League winner. (20 IL teams, 10 Cali teams, one team from each league in the playoffs. Yeah, that makes sense!)
“Now instead of going to Las Vegas we’re going to try to win six games and finish the season strong,” Williams said.
To show you the team-first, statistics-don’t-matter attitude of these young major league aspirants, Williams was shocked to learn how many grand slam home runs the team has hit – 13, an International League record going back to at least the beginning of the statcast era in 2005.
“I would have guessed about 7,” Williams postulated. “That’s crazy.” He praised the Saints’ coaches for the team’s grand salami success, which at 13 is the best at any level of American baseball this year. Camargo and Williams each have 3 slams, so Camargo may at least tie Williams there even if he can only muster doubles and triples the rest of the way.
Shortstop Lee would have been the second star if this were hockey. Lee drove in one run with a double in the first and deposited a towering solo homer onto the roof behind the Spire porch.
Saints starter Woods Richardson went two outs into the 6th inning and notched his 7th win in his last 8 decisions. He gave up 7 hits in 5 2/3 innings, walked 2 batters and struck out 4. A Saints double play saved him in the 5th inning after the first batters hit a double and a single.
The season-ending series continues tonight (Thursday) at 6:37 p.m. Friday and Saturday games will also start at 6:37, and Sunday’s season finale will begin at 12:07 p.m.
How to Hear and See the Saints
All games on KFAN Plus (96.7 FM), I-Heart app, MiLB.TV, Bally app (Apple only); home games on local television public programming (consult your TV listings); Saturday and Sunday home games televised on WUCW (The CW Network).
Notes
Go to gzrnetwork.com to receive my blog after every Saints game.

Dobnak Sets Strikeout Record, but Saints Also Whiff, 9-3
2023 Season: Game 139-144 Recaps – Game Dates September 12-17, 2023
By CAP’N JOHN CLINGER
Note: The Saints began the week four games out of a potential triple-A International League playoff spot with 12 games remaining as they opened a 6-game series in Des Moines against the Iowa Cubs. Remaining game times against Iowa are 7:08 Friday, 6:08 Saturday, and 1:08 Sunday.
Cubs 9, Saints 3
Thursday, Sept. 14
The Saints dropped their third in a row to the Iowa I-Cubs, 9-3, yesterday (Thursday) in Des Moines to fall 6 games out of the lone remaining triple-A International League playoffs spot with only 9 games left to go in the regular season.
Randy Dobnak, the former Twins starter, broke Ronny Henriquez’s record of 106 strikeouts in a season since the Saints became affiliated with the Twins in 2021. He has 109 now. Also for the Saints, Camargo smashed his 19th home run of the season and Lee lashed a pair of doubles.
Cubs 4, Saints 3
Wednesday, Sept. 13
Saints hurler Simeon Woods Richardson, who was benched from one start in June and since then had compiled a 2.97 earned run average, was sharp again yesterday (Wednesday), but his teammates could muster only three runs, and St. Paul fell to the I-Cubs in Des Moines, 4-3.
Without going 10-0, or close to that, for the rest of the season, the Saints have little chance of a playoff spot in the triple-A International League. They trail three teams by 1 to 5 games.
Woods Richardson worked the first 5 innings and gave up just one run, walking 3 batters and striking out 5. Two-way player Bechtold, who is trying to establish himself as a pitcher, entered the game in relief in the 6th with a 2-1 lead and gave up 3 earned runs while facing only 6 batters. The Saints came up short after that, scoring 1 additional run and just missing 2 more on a line drive to the warning track that the centerfielder tracked down to prevent St. Paul from retaking the lead.
St. Paul took a 1st-inning lead for the seventh consecutive game as Helman doubled, stole 3rd base and scored on a wild pitch. Helman leads the team in batting average at .304 and has been hot in the leadoff spot during those seven quick starts.
Iowa tied the game in the 3rd, but St. Paul retook the lead, 2-1, as Pérez belted his 10th home run of the season for only the third time in his 16-year professional career. After falling behind, 4-2, in Iowa’s 3-run 6th, the Saints got a solo home run from Severino in the 7th -- his 10th as a Saint and 34th overall this year, which co-leads all of the minor leagues.
Saints 4, Cubs 1
Tuesday, Sept. 12
The Saints got to Iowa’s starting pitcher for three quick runs, then relied on their own hurlers to secure a 4-1 win over the Cubs in the opener of a 6-game series in Des Moine, IA last night (Tuesday).
St. Paul is still four games out of the triple-A International League playoffs with 11 games to go in the regular season. (If anybody knows the mathematical chances, or oddsmakers’ offerings, of the Saints securing the final spot, please shoot me an email at johnclinger@gmail.com.)
Martin put the Saints up 1-0 in the 1st inning by slashing a double that scored Larnach. Severino hit his 33rd home run in the minor leagues this season to open the 2nd. Camargo followed with a triple and came home on a single by Helman to give St. Paul a 3-0 cushion halfway through the 3rd.
With the Saints pitching “by committee” again because some of their starters are now with the Twins, McMahon worked the first two innings. A key moment in the game came when one of the Cubs’ best hitters was charged with a pitch violation, resulting in an automatic third strike, for not “re-engaging” the pitcher with 8 seconds left in the pitching cycle after the timeout he had called. The International League is experimenting with this rule as well as the Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) system, and they could be coming to the major leagues as early as next season.
The two teams traded a run apiece in the bottom of the 3rd and top of the 4th. The Saint’s run came when Camargo reached 1st base on a throwing error, stole 2nd, and scored on another single by Helman.
The Saints’ relief committee of Schulfer (W, 6-3), Brice, Henriquez and Sands (S, 3) shut down the Cubs in the final 5-1/3 innings with no runs, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts.
How to Hear and See the Saints
All games on KFAN Plus (96.7 FM), I-Heart app, MiLB.TV, Bally app (Apple only); home games on local television public programming (consult your TV listings); Saturday and Sunday home games televised on WUCW (The CW Network).
Notes
Go to gzrnetwork.com to receive my blog after every Saints game.

Another Day, Another Slam in Saints’ Trip to Louisville
2023 Season: Game 133-138 Recaps – Game Dates September 5-10, 2023
By CAP’N JOHN CLINGER
Note: The Saints began the week three games out of a potential triple-A International League playoff spot with 18 games remaining as they opened a 6-game series in Louisville against the Bats. Game times this week are 5:35 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 6:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12:05 p.m. Sunday.
St. Paul Saints 13, Louisville Bats 8
Wednesday, Sept. 6
It was Trevor Larnach tonight (Wednesday) as the Saints hit another grand slam home run to defeat the Bats, 13-3, and take a 2-0 lead in the 6-game road series.
After the Saints squandered a big lead to go from leading, 6-2, to trailing, 8-6, the local lads scored 7 in the top of the 9th on an RBI single by Helman, a 2-run double by major league rehabber Kirilloff, and Larnach’s blast.
St. Paul also got a 4-bagger from Helman and one by Larnach, his first of 2. They needed all those runs because three Saints relievers surrendered that 6-2 lead by giving up 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th, including a grand salami by the Bats. Louisville kept plenty of men on base thanks to 11 walks by Saints pitchers. Starting pitcher Festa had a 2-0 lead when he left the game after 3 innings. Festa allowed 3 hits and walked 6 batters while striking out another half-dozen Bats batsmen.
Larnach’s grand slam, the first of his career, was the Saints’ 13th of the season, the most in professional baseball at any level.
The Saints are still 3 games behind in the race for a playoff spot in triple-A International League playoffs because 4 of the 5 teams ahead of them also won tonight.
St. Paul Saints 11, Louisville Bats 3
Tuesday, Sept. 5
Brooks Lee, the No. 2 prospect in the Twins organization, smashed a 415-foot grand slam to left-center field to help the Saints end a 3-game losing streak with an 11-3 win over the Louisville Bats. But the standings deficit stayed at 3 games with 5 teams ahead of them.
The Saints also got a 3-run double from Helman, who played his first game since a shoulder injury May 11, and a 2-run homer from Severino. Severino’s second roundtripper as a Saint gave him 30 for the minor league season (28 at double-A Wichita), only the eighth player to hit 30 at any level of the minors.
Note: The 12 grand slams for the Saints this year are the most at any level of American baseball.
The Saints pitched by committee again -- with Enlow pitching the first three innings and McMahon, Schulfer, Balazovic and Brice chipping in – and scattered 9 singles while striking out 8 Bats batsmen.
How to Hear and See the Saints
All games on KFAN Plus (96.7 FM), I-Heart app, MiLB.TV, Bally app (Apple only); home games on local television public programming (consult your TV listings); Saturday and Sunday home games televised on WUCW (The CW Network).
Notes
Go to gzrnetwork.com to receive my blog after every Saints game.