Saints Outlast Canaries 5-4 In 13 Innings

ST. PAUL, MN -- The Sioux Falls Canaries (22-42) were unable to cash in several opportunities to take control of the game Tuesday night and instead the St. Paul Saints (37-26) stole a 5-4 win in 13 innings when the Canaries committed two errors in the final frame.  The Birds have now dropped the first two games of the series.

Joe Bircher pitched effectively for two scoreless innings, but had to leave after just 25 pitches with shoulder tightness.  That spelled a long night for the bullpen, but Canary relievers performed mostly well.  John Brebbia went four innings of long relief allowing two runs and Joe Testa tossed two scoreless frames.

Despite an uneven performance from the offense, the Canaries held a 4-3 lead going into the 9th.  Alan DeRatt was unable to close it out, blowing his seventh save on Devin Thaut's third RBI to send the game to extra innings.

Josh Giles suffered a tough luck loss in his second inning of work when two Canaries errors allowed St. Paul to plate across the winning run.  AJ Kirby-Jones misplayed a grounball in the inning and Ty Forney dropped a Dwight Childs fly ball with two outs that allowed Henry Wrigley to score and hand the Saints a 5-4 victory.  Giles dropped to 0-4 with the loss.

The Saints bullpen was impressive in their own right, allowing just one run in eight innings in relief of Robert Coe who was tagged for three runs in five innings while issuing six walks. Andy Johnson (1-0) picked up the win by holding the Canaries off the board in the top of the 13th.

Steve Tinoco led the Birds offensively, going 4-6 with an RBI and a run scored.

The scoring for the Canaries started when Sam Lind drove in Chris Duffy in the 2nd.  Carlos Mendez added a sacrifice fly in the 3rd to score Tinoco to push the lead to 2-0.

After a pair of RBI hits from Devin Thaut tied the game at two, the Canaries retook the lead in the 5th when Duffy walked, stole second and later scored on a Chris Valencia sacrifice fly.

The final run for the Birds came in the 10th when Tinoco drew a bases loaded walk to put them up 4-3.

Thaut and Willy Cabrera finished with four hits for the Saints, while Keith Brachold added three.  Thaut led the way with three RBI.  Henry Wrigley followed up his homer Monday night with an RBI Tuesday, giving him four in the series.

Game three of the series will start at 1:05 PM Wednesday afternoon.

Sioux Falls Canaries

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries