The Saints needed 10 innings to get the job done Wednesday, outlasting Omaha 9-7 in a game that turned into a parade to first base. St. Paul drew 11 walks, one more than its hit total, and that patience helped carry a night in which Emmanuel Rodriguez reached base four times on walks while the rest of the lineup kept finding ways to stay alive.
The big swings came from Cody Morissette and Jake Rucker. Morissette stayed hot with a homer for the third straight game, finishing 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Rucker added his own headline moment with a home run, going 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and a walk. Alan Roden also chipped in across the board, finishing 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, an RBI and three walks, while Kala’i Rosario drove in three runs in a 2-for-6 effort.
St. Paul’s bullpen made the difference when the game tightened up.
Eric Orze, Marco Raya and Julian Merryweather combined for 5 2/4 shutout innings in the game’s most important stretch, and after the Saints had been tagged for seven earned runs and plenty of traffic, that trio slammed the door. Omaha managed just one hit off Orze during that run.
Ricky Castro started for St. Paul and lasted three innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs with three walks and three strikeouts.
Rucker’s homer carried extra weight beyond the box score. It was his first with the Saints in nearly 1,500 days, a long wait that made the blast stand out even more in a game already full of traffic and movement. Every Saints hitter reached base except Tanner Schobel.
Emmanuel Rodriguez finished the day slashing .270/.432/.560 with the Saints in 2026. Omaha center fielder Carson Roccaforte, the 17th-best prospect in the Royals’ system, went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
Wichita came up just short in a one-run loss to Tulsa, despite a sharp outing from Chris Vallimont. The 29-year-old worked efficiently, striking out six while allowing two hits and no earned runs without issuing a walk.
The earned runs that did count against the Wind Surge came in the third inning, but they crossed after a pair of errors - one by second baseman Danny De Andrade and one by Vallimont himself. Wichita had already taken a 2-0 lead on a run-scoring groundout from Jaime Ferrer and a single by Graham Brown. After three quiet innings, a walk and a single put a runner in scoring position for Marek Houston, who lined a single to center to tie the game.
Tulsa answered with a sacrifice fly in the seventh and a two-run homer in the eighth. Brandon Winokur added a sacrifice fly late, but Wichita couldn’t get the final push and finished one run short.
The Drillers’ lineup included Josue De Paula, the sixth overall prospect in MLB, who went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Cedar Rapids mounted a late charge that nearly flipped the game, but the Kernels ran out of outs in a 4-3 loss. Trailing 4-0 in the eighth, they got on the board when Eduardo Tait grounded out to score Vahn Lackey.
The ninth inning brought more pressure: Andy Lugo ripped a triple that led to a sacrifice fly, then Yasser Mercedes walked, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Lackey walked, and Mercedes later scored on a double steal with Lackey taking second.
That left the tying run in scoring position, but the next two hitters struck out to end it.
There was one major feel-good note for Cedar Rapids. Matt Canterino pitched in a professional game for the first time since July 30, 2022, when he was with the FCL Twins. On Wednesday, he threw a scoreless inning for the Kernels, striking out one and walking one.
Cesar Lares kept rolling as well, allowing just one earned run for the second straight start. Yasser Mercedes swiped three bases, bringing his Kernels total to 41 and his season total to 52. MLB’s 39th overall prospect, first baseman Josiah Hartshorn, appeared for the Cubs and walked once in three plate appearances.
Fort Myers never got to play. The Mighty Mussels had their game postponed because of inclement weather, and the makeup date is set for tomorrow, though nothing is guaranteed.
Among the Twins Daily Top 20 prospects, Vahn Lackey went 1-for-3 with a run, two walks and a strikeout. Marek Houston finished 2-for-4 with a double, a run and an RBI. Emmanuel Rodriguez went 0-for-2 with two runs and four walks, Hendry Mendez was 1-for-5 with a run and a walk, Eduardo Tait was 1-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a strikeout, Brandon Winokur went 0-for-2 with an RBI and two walks, Khadim Diaw went 2-for-5, and Yasser Mercedes went 0-for-4 with a run and a walk.
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Twins Fans Have Every Right To Demand Accountability For This Collapse
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Jeremy Zoll and Derek Shelton are part of the conversation because every collapse has layers, but this one also reflects the roster limits, the injuries, and the uneven production that have dragged the season off course. Ownership sits in the middle of it too, because when a team with this kind of midseason position slips into survival mode, fans are left asking not just what happened on the field, but who is accountable for building a club that could end up here. [Read more 🡒]