ST. PAUL, MN (July 18, 2026) - Ryan Gallagher enjoys pitching against the Louisville Bats. He entered play with a 1.13 ERA in two outings against them this season. He was dominant on Saturday night in game one of a doubleheader and his offense made sure he got the win putting up big crooked numbers in the first and sixth in an 11-3 win at CHS Field.
The Saints have scored more runs in the first inning than any team in baseball and added to their total by sending nine men to the plate and scoring four runs. Walker Jenkins and Kyler Fedko got it started with back-to-back doubles, the latter scoring the former making it 1-0. Matt Wallner drew a walk, and Aaron Sabato made it 2-0 with an RBI single to left-center. With two outs Cody Morissette ripped an RBI single off the base of the right field wall increasing the lead to 3-0. Ben Ross then walked loading the bases and that knocked out Bats starter Julian Aguiar. With Sam Benschoter coming out of the bullpen, he walked David Bañuelos forcing in a run giving the Saints a 4-0 lead.
The lone mistake Gallagher made came in the fifth when Sam Haggarty hit a solo homer to right-center, his first of the season, getting the Bats to within 4-1. Gallagher went 5.0 innings allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out four.
Marco Raya made a Major League rehab appearance and got off to a shaky start by walking Héctor Rodríguez and then giving up a two-run homer to Will Benson, his first of the season, trimming the Saints lead to 4-3. Raya then got the next three hitters, two on strikeouts. He went 1.0 inning allowing two runs on one hit, while walking one and striking out two.
For the second time in the game the Saints sent 10 men to the plate and this time they put up a seven spot in the sixth. Jenkins led off with a walk, stole second, took third on a throwing error by the catcher P.J. Higgins, and scored on a wild pitch putting the Saints up 5-3. With one out back-to-back walks to Wallner and Sabato put runners at first and second. With one out Hendry Mendez made it 6-3 with an RBI single to left-center. After a pitching change, Morissette walked to load the bases. Ross tacked on a two more with two-run single to right-center putting the Saints up 8-3. Bañuelos put the exclamation point on the game with a three-run homer to left, his third of the season, giving the Saints an 11-3 lead.