Saints unbeaten start comes to a record-breaking halt in home opener

Some games are better left forgotten… Saints pitchers issued a franchise-record 20 walks over nine innings as the team’s undefeated start to the season came to a crushing end with a 19-3 loss to Worchester at CHS Field in St. Paul. An announced crowd of 4,144 bore witness to the visiting Woosox staked themselves to an eight-run first inning as starting pitcher Christian MacLeod was chased after netting just two outs while allowing six earned runs on three hits and three walks.

The night got worse from there, though many fans spared themselves the ignominy to follow. After St. Paul was able to scratch across a lone run in the second inning and two more in the fourth while allowing Worchester just one more tally through the fifth, the hosts entered the top of the sixth trailing 9-3.

And then the roof caved in. Reliever Trent Baker took the mound and struggled mightily with his control, issuing five free passes and two hits. All seven baserunners scored as Baker gave way to Eduardo Salazar, who proceeded to issue three earned runs on another walk and two hits — one of which was a grand slam home run by Nick Sogard to bring the score to its eventual final 16-run differential.

Before a sparse few diehards that remained in the stands, Salazar tossed a clean seventh before turning the ball over to a less-than-usual fireman to extinguish the flames: shortstop Tanner Schobel. While Schobel did allow two walks and one hit, he was otherwise highly effective with efforts that struggled to reach 45 mph against a Woosox team that swung liberally in what was possibly an attempt to end a game that was long over on a blustery and frigid March evening at the ballpark. All told, seven Saints pitchers took the hill and allowed a total of 19 earned runs, the aforementioned score of walks, 13 hits — including four home runs — and nine strikeouts.