ST. PAUL, MN (July 24, 2026) - A night after a come from behind walk-off victory, the St. Paul Saints nearly pulled off a larger comeback win in the ninth. Unfortunately, their three-run ninth inning left them one run short in a 6-5 loss to the Columbus Clippers on Friday night at CHS Field in front of 7,155.
Trailing 6-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth, the first four hitters reached for the Saints. Cody Morissette led off with a double to left-center. Noah Cardenas, who was batting for the first time in the game after coming in for an injured David Bañuelos in the top of the ninth, drilled a two-run homer to left, his ninth of the season, cutting the deficit to 6-4. Kyler Fedko reached on an infield single and Gabby Gonzalez doubled him to third. After a pitching change, Kaelen Culpepper made it 6-5 with a groundout to short. That’s where the good vibes ended as Aaron Sabato and Tristan Gray struck out ending the game.
The game got off to a good start for the Saints, who plated their 94th first inning run, the best in all of baseball. With two outs and nobody on Culpepper singled to right and took third on a single to left-center by Sabato. The Saints then pulled off a double steal as Sabato took off for second and as the throw went down to second, Culpepper broke for the plate. The throw home by shortstop Milan Tolentino bounced in the dirt and kicked away allowing Culpepper to score making it 1-0.
Back-to-back walks to start the third hurt the Saints. After a double play ground out put a runner at third, an RBI double to right-center by Angel Genao and an RBI single to right by Kahlil Watson put the Clippers up 2-1.
Sabato tied it at two with one swing of the bat in the fourth. He crushed a 417-foot solo blast to left, his team leading 18th of the season.
The Clippers got another two-out run in the fifth. With one out Milan Tolentino doubled to left-center, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a single to center by Genao giving the Clippers a 3-2 lead.
Three insurance runs over the final three innings proved big for the Clippers. In the seventh back-to-back doubles by Alfonsin Rosario and Kody Huff increased the lead to 4-2.
With two outs in the eighth the Clippers plated their fourth run with two outs. Juan Brito tripled and scored on a wild pitch pushing the lead to 5-2.
Huff led off the ninth with a triple and with one out scored on a single to center by Cooper Ingle stretching the Clippers lead to 6-2.
Marco Raya pitched 1.0 inning of perfect relief and struck out one on Major League rehab.
The same two teams meet in game five of a six-game series at CHS Field on Saturday night at 6:37 p.m. The Saints are TBA and the Clippers send RHP Yorman Gomez (0-2, 7.08). The game can be seen on the CW Twin Cities, MLB.TV, MiLB.com, and the Bally Sports Live app, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM, all presented by Northland Ford Dealers.