The St. Paul Saints kept their season alive on Wednesday night, edging Columbus 3-2 behind a sharp outing from Aaron Rozek and just enough early offense to make it stand.
Rozek was the story. The left-hander worked five innings and allowed only two hits and one earned run, with one walk and five strikeouts. It was one of his better performances of the year, and he leaned on his usual mix of deception and control to keep Columbus from ever settling in.
St. Paul gave him immediate support.
Alan Roden, Gabriel Gonzalez and Matt Wallner all lined doubles in the opening frame, with the Saints stacking together a pair of runs before Clippers starter Logan T. Allen could record an out.
Gonzalez’s knock, a 92.6 MPH drive down the line, was the hardest-hit ball of the bunch, but the inning was less about thunder than placement. The Saints found grass, and they cashed in.
Wallner added the third run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
From there, the bullpen handled the rest, though not without a few tense moments. Eric Orze allowed a run in his inning before picking off a runner at second to close it out.
Matt Bowman gave up two hits and then got a strange double play that went down as a double for the batter but still ended with two outs on the bases. Marco Raya then breezed through the eighth with two strikeouts, and Julian Merryweather finished the job, working around a walk to lock up the save.
The victory moved St. Paul to 80-65, the best overall record in the International League West.
Even so, the Saints are still likely headed for an early finish, since minor league playoff spots are determined by first- and second-half results. St.
Paul was third before the All-Star break and now sits four games behind Indianapolis with four games left.
For Columbus, Ralphy Velazquez - the 31st overall prospect in MLB - went 1-for-4 with a double. The Clippers managed only two runs in the loss.
Elsewhere in the system, the Twins recalled infielder Ben Ross and activated catcher Ian Daugherty from the Development List at AAA St. Paul.
Twins Daily Pitcher of the Day went to Aaron Rozek, while Alan Roden and Gabriel Gonzalez shared hitter honors. Gonzalez also showed up in the prospect summary, along with Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez.
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