ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Indianapolis Indians gave up three home runs, including a grand slam to Royce Lewis, as they fell to the St. Paul Saints, 10-1, on Wednesday afternoon at CHS Field. The Saints’ three long balls extended their Triple-A leading home run count to 101.
Riding a 4-0 advantage over Indianapolis (24-35) in the seventh inning, Royce Lewis hit a grand slam to double the Saints’ (31-27) lead, 8-0. David Bañuelos, leading off the inning, reached on an error, and Carson Fulmer gave up two singles to load the bases with no outs.
The Saints came out of the gate running, pummeling four runs off five hits in the first inning. Hendry Mendez and Matt Wallner both hit two-run home runs off Jarod Bayless (L, 0-1) to take a quick 4-0 lead.
St. Paul’s Ryan Gallagher (W, 2-1) did not give up a hit until the fourth inning, when Ronny Simon hustled out a double to center field. Esmerlyn Valdez followed with a walk, extending his on-base streak with Indianapolis to 16 games.
Simon plated the only Indians run of the day in the eighth inning, knocking a single to right field as Termarr Johnson sprinted home from second base. Simon went 2-for-4, collecting his team-leading 18th multi-hit game of the season.
St. Paul tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning, ending Isaac Mattson’s five-game scoreless streak.
The two clubs meet again Thursday night at 8:07 PM ET. Indianapolis will send RHP Noah Davis (1-4, 4.03) to the mound to face the Saints’ RHP John Klein (1-1, 6.09).