Ben Ross gave the St. Paul Saints the kind of opening blast that feels ripped straight from a movie script.
Six pitches into Tuesday night’s game in Dyersville, Iowa, the Saints third baseman turned on a fastball over the middle and sent it out for a home run, putting St. Paul up 1-0 over the Iowa Cubs at the Field of Dreams movie site.
“It was cool because my entire goal was just trusting the process and not trying to do too much, and it ended up working out for me,” Ross said postgame.
His teammate Walker Jenkins loved the moment just as much.
“It was awesome just seeing him send one and it ending up in the corn,” said teammate Walker Jenkins. “We were talking about like, ‘Someone hits the home runs, you’ve got to go get that ball.’
So it was really cool. I think everyone was just pumped for him.
Starting off the game was awesome.”
For the Saints, though, that was about as good as it got in the fourth-ever pro-ball game at the Field of Dreams site. The I-Cubs broke things open with a five-run fifth inning and rolled to a 6-3 victory.
Kendry Rojas got the start for St. Paul and made a little history in the process, becoming the first non-U.S.-born pitcher to start a game in Dyersville. His night started with a jolt when Iowa leadoff hitter Justin Dean ripped a line drive straight back at him, a shot that barely got a reaction out of the mound.
Rojas settled in after that, though his command never fully locked in. He finished with just one strikeout, and the one pitch that really hurt came in the third, when I-Cubs shortstop Greg Jones launched a leadoff home run.
“Good from Kendry,” said Saints manager Brian Dinkelman. “Started off well, got a little shaky there towards the end of the inning, but pretty efficient for the most part and threw the ball well to give us four innings.”
St. Paul had given Rojas a 2-1 cushion before he exited, taking advantage of Iowa mistakes and some sharp baserunning from Gabby Gonzalez on the second error.
Then came the fifth, and everything changed. Alejandro Hidalgo came on in relief, and the inning quickly turned ugly. He recorded just a third of an inning and gave up three home runs, including two in a row from the bottom of the Iowa lineup.
Those back-to-back homers sent fireworks smoke drifting onto the field, a strange sight for a game played in a place usually framed by corn and open space. It didn’t stop play, but it did add a surreal edge to the night.
The Saints tried to answer. David Banuelos delivered an RBI single in the seventh to trim the gap, but St. Paul couldn’t put together enough after that against the Iowa bullpen.
“At certain points, it’s just baseball,” said Jenkins. “I think they had a good night, but [put] some good swings together, and hit some balls out, and we had a couple rallies going there but just couldn’t come through, including myself there in the end. But it was just one of those nights.”
“I mean, they’re great pitchers, man,” said Ross. “It’s one where it becomes really important to stick to the process and not try to do too much. Sometimes it doesn’t go our way, unfortunately.”
Even with the loss, the night clearly meant something to the Saints. The setting delivered the kind of quiet, almost eerie atmosphere that comes with a game played in that movie-famous field, and once the action picked up, the crowd responded.
“We were just talking about it; it was kind of nice,” said Jenkins. “I kind of like it at least, the crowd noise, and then it just got kind of quiet, which was cool. I liked it.”
Dinkelman said Ross’s homer made the night especially memorable for the third baseman.
“I mean, just the excitement of the crowd and first pitch home run,” Dinkelman said of his third baseman. “This game tonight was pretty special for him, so he’ll remember it for a while.”
Ross agreed, and said one of the biggest moments came before the game even really settled in.
“The homer is definitely going to be up there on the list,” said Ross. “I think one of the coolest things for me was FaceTiming my parents and kind of showing them around the movie set, and just sharing that moment with them was pretty cool.”
In Other News...
Twins Catcher Crunch Just Forced A Roster Move Fans Saw Coming
The catcher logjam the Twins created around the Field of Dreams Game finally had to be sorted out, and Alex Jackson was the one squeezed off the roster. Minnesota designated Jackson for assignment and trimmed its 40-man roster to 39, a move that came after the club used a temporary extra spot for the event and activated Byron Buxton from the injured list. Jackson, who is out of options, had not been playing regularly this season, which made him the most obvious piece to move once the roster crunch settled down.
Now he goes through waivers, and the most likely outcome is an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul if he clears. For the Twins, it is less a surprise than a housekeeping move, but it also underscores how quickly the margins can tighten behind the plate when the roster is fully healthy and every spot matters. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Add A Veteran Arm As Rotation Pressure Keeps Rising
The Twins kept working on their pitching depth after the deadline rush, adding another familiar veteran arm in Germn Mrquez on a minor-league deal. Mrquez is set to report to Triple-A St. Paul, giving Minnesota another starter to stash and evaluate as it tries to steady a rotation that has already been hit by Joe Ryans move to the injured list.
Mrquez arrives after a difficult run with the Padres, who released him following a 5.26 ERA over 53 innings, and he cleared waivers before landing with the Twins. With Dean Kremer already in the fold from the Orioles, Minnesota has been piecing together more rotation options, and Mrquez gives the club another name to consider if the injuries and workload continue to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Twins Legends Helped Turn Field Of Dreams Into A Franchise Moment
The MLB at Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa, already carried the kind of built-in nostalgia that tends to flatten even the biggest sporting events into something closer to a memory. Before the first pitch, though, the scene became a little more surreal when 26 Baseball Hall of Famers emerged from the cornfield and walked onto the field for a special pregame ceremony, a gathering that gave the night the feel of a living museum as much as a regular-season game.
The ceremony brought together Hall of Famers tied to the Phillies and Twins, along with other notable inductees and managers, and included introductions, remarks from Byron Buxton and Kyle Schwarber, plus ceremonial first pitches from Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent. For Minnesota, the presence of so many franchise-linked legends added a layer of significance to an event already built for baseball romantics, and it was the kind of cross-generational moment that made the game feel bigger than the standings. [Read more 🡒]