COLUMBUS, OHIO — Veteran righthander Chi Chi Gonzalez of the St. Paul Saints held Columbus to no hits in the first six innings but the bullpen struggled and the visitors lost 6-5 in 12 innings to the Clippers on Wednesday night in International League West baseball.
Saints flirt with combined no-hitter, nearly collapse in ninth, fall in 12th
Chi Chi Gonzalez of the Saints held Columbus hitless the first six innings. The Clippers got their first hit in the seventh off a St. Paul reliever but scored four runs in the ninth to tie the game and single runs in 10th and 12th to win it.
By NEWS SERVICES
May 12, 2022 at 2:54AM
Shut out for eight innings, Columbus scored four times in the ninth to tie the score and got a walkoff win in the 12th on Alex Call's RBI single.
The Saints took the lead in the 10th on Cole Sturgeon's run-scoring double, but again Columbus tied it.
Gonzalez was lifted after the sixth — he threw 88 pitches, 57 for strikes. He had seven strikeouts and four walks.
The one-time first round draft pick of the Texas Rangers in 2013 was 2-1 with a 4.87 ERA going into this game.
Ian Hamilton relieved the 6-3, 210-pound Gonzalez and Bryan Lavastida got the Clippers first hit off Hamilton with one out in the seventh on a line drive single to center.
The Saints scored their first run in the sixth. Elliott Soto doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Curtis Terry's single.
They built the lead to 4-0 with three runs in the ninth inning, scoring on a fielder's choice, and RBI singles from Caleb Hamilton and David Banuelos.
Those runs turned out to be needed. Columbus got four runs in the bottom of the inning with the help of two errors.
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