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Josh Winder pitches well but Buffalo rallies past Saints in ninth

pioneer press
·2 min read
Josh Winder pitches well but Buffalo rallies past Saints in ninth

Josh Winder pitched well in his third rehab start for St. Paul, but the Buffalo Bisons rallied for two runs in the ninth inning for a 3-2, walk-off win Wednesday at Sahlen Field.

Winder, recovering from right shoulder impingement, surrendered a solo home run to Samad Taylor in the first inning but retired the next nine batters before a one-out walk in the fourth inning. The right-hander pitched four innings, allowing one run on one hit while walking two and striking out three.

The Saints, meanwhile, took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning after scoring a pair of runs off the International League’s best pitcher, Casey Lawrence, who entered play with a league-best 1.77 earned-run average. They plated one in the fourth inning on consecutive hits by Jake Cave, Tim Beckham and Mark Contreras, who tied the game with an RBI double. In the seventh, Contreras singled and scored on Roy Morales’ double for a 2-1 lead.

With the Saints up 2-1 in the ninth, Taylor led off with a single to left off reliever Ariel Jurado. who was pitching his fourth inning. Jurado hit Jordan Groshans to put runners at first and second and Cullen Large followed with a single to left to tie the score at 2-2. Juan Minaya replaced Jurado, and Tanner Morris sacrificed the runners to second and third. Nick Podkul bounced a grounder up the middle past the drawn-in infield to knock home the winning run.

It’s the sixth walk-off loss for the Saints this season.

Cave extended his streak of reaching base to 37 consecutive games, and Beckham went 1 for 4 and is hitting .460 since being activated from the injured list (quad strain) on May 31. The veteran major league infielder signed a minor league deal with the Twins in February.

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