ST. PAUL, MN (July 18, 2026) -
It was an unusual second game of a doubleheader for the St. Paul Saints. They were the visiting team in their home ballpark at CHS Field. Since the Louisville Bats and Saints were washed out at Louisville Slugger Field back in late June, and the two teams don’t return there, the doubleheader was moved to CHS Field with the Saints as the home team in game one, but the visitors in game two. It didn’t matter as the Saints recorded their sixth shutout of the season, a 7-0 win over the Bats in front of 6,379 on Saturday night. They swept the doubleheader outscoring the Bats 18-3 and have now won four straight.
Six different Saints pitchers combined on the shutout in a game that was scoreless through four innings. Ricky Castro got the start and allowed a leadoff single before retiring the next six hitters. He went 2.0 shutout allowing one hit and striking out one.
Alejandro Hidalgo walked the leadoff man in the third, but retired the next three as he went 1.0 hitless, scoreless inning.
C.J. Culpepper took over in the fourth and gave up just a two-out single as he went 1.1 shutout innings allowing a hit and a strikeout.
It took until the fifth, but the Saints got on the board first. With two outs and nobody on, Kyler Fedko lofted a fly ball to the left-center field gap and left fielder Sam Haggerty and centerfielder Carlos Jorge both went after it. Jorge raced over and had the ball pop in and out of his glove trying to make the running catch as Fedko reached on the double. That proved large because Matt Wallner came through with an RBI single to right-center giving the Saints a 1-0 lead.
The lone jam for Saints pitchers came in the bottom of the fifth. After Culpepper departed getting his lone batter of the inning, Raul Brito walked the first batter he faced and then gave up back-to-back singles loading the bases. Brito fanned Héctor Rodríguez and got Will Benson to fly out, ending the inning. Brito went 0.2 shutout innings allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out one.
Much like game one, the Saints blew the game open in the sixth inning in game two. They sent 11 men to the plate and scored six runs. Gabby Gonzalez and Ben Ross led off the inning with back-to-back singles putting runners at first and second. With one out, the Bats went to the bullpen for hard throwing Zach Maxwell. He was greeted by back-to-back RBI singles from Cody Morissette and Tanner Schobel putting the Saints up 3-0. With two outs back-to-back walks to Walker Jenkins and Fedko forced in a run, stretching the lead to 4-0. Wallner then ripped a 100 mph fastball for a two-run single into right-center increasing the lead to 6-0. Wallner finished the game 3-4 with three RBI. Gonzalez, who started the inning with a single, came through with an RBI single to left making it 7-0.
Matt Bowman pitched the sixth and gave up one hit and Grant Hartwig finished off the game with a perfect seventh while striking out one.
The sixth shutout of the season is tied for the second most shutouts in franchise history, only behind the eight the Saints threw in their first Triple-A season, 2021.
The same two teams meet in the finale of the four-game series on Sunday afternoon at CHS Field at 2:07 p.m. The Saints are TBA and the Bats send RHP Jose Acuna (1-0, 5.40) to the mound. The game can be seen on the CW Twin Cities, MLB.TV, MLB+, and the Bally Sports Live app, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM, all presented by Northland Ford Dealers.