Mario Sanchez pitched a career-best 7 2/3 innings and the St. Paul Saints scored 10 runs over the ninth and 10th innings to defeat the Iowa Cubs 12-5 in 10 innings on Thursday afternoon in Des Moines. The Saints have won six of their past eight games.

The Saints took a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Curtis Terry led off with a single and Tim Beckham followed with a two-run home run, his first of the season.

Sanchez gave up a two-run homer to Greg Deichmann in the bottom of the inning, but he was strong after that. He allowed only three more hits and became the first Saints pitcher this season to pitch into the seventh.

Sanchez, who allowed two runs on five hits, became the second pitcher in Saints history to throw 100 pitches in a game, finishing with 103, 70 for strikes. Andrew Albers threw 104 and 100 last season. No Saints pitcher had thrown more than 88 this season.

Des Moines forced extra innings with a two-run ninth, but the Saints scored eight in the top of the 10th, highlighted by Roy Morales' grand slam, his first homer of the season.

Jake Cave was 2-for-4 for St. Paul and extended his hitting streak to 14 games, matching a franchise record.