The St. Paul Saints spent most of 2026 bludgeoning opposing pitching. On Saturday night, though, the bats went quiet at exactly the wrong time.
Columbus shut out St. Paul 4-0, handing the Saints one of their most muted offensive nights of the season in the penultimate game of the year. The Saints finished with four hits and no walks, and their first runner to reach second base didn’t come until Tanner Schobel doubled with two outs in the eighth inning.
That was about as close as St. Paul got.
Schobel’s double was the team’s first hit that put a runner in scoring position, and the Saints never found a way to cash in. They also went down on double plays in the second and third innings, and ended the game with just two runners left on base.
The contrast with the rest of their season was stark. Entering Saturday, St.
Paul had piled up 250 home runs, which put the club one ahead of the Greensboro Grasshoppers for the most among the teams listed. Behind them on that home run leaderboard were the Chicago Cubs with 211, and both the New York Yankees and Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders at 209.
The power wasn’t limited to the team total, either. With one game left, 13 Saints players had already reached double figures in home runs.
Aaron Sabato and Matt Wallner were tied for the team lead at 25. Kyler Fedko had 17.
Gabriel Gonzalez and Cody Morissette each had 16. Ben Ross had 15, Kaelen Culpepper 14, Noah Cardenas 13, and Orlando Arcia and Walker Jenkins had 12 apiece.
Emmanuel Rodriguez and Kala'i Rosario each had 11, while Royce Lewis hit 10 home runs in just 15 games with the Saints. Alan Roden may have added his name to that group, but his nine Saints homers came before he was called up to the big leagues this weekend.
Hendry Mendez could still join the list if he goes deep twice on Sunday.
St. Paul also came into the day leading the 20-team International League in runs scored with 836, which made Saturday’s shutout even more unusual.
Jack Anderson took the loss after working four innings. He allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits and a walk while striking out three.
The bullpen was cleaner. Paulshawn Pasqualotto threw two perfect innings with one strikeout, Matt Bowman allowed a hit and a walk in a scoreless seventh, and Eric Orze added a strikeout in a quiet eighth.
Even after the loss, the Saints remain in a strong position record-wise at 82-66, tied with the Memphis Redbirds for the best overall mark in the International League West Division. Memphis secured the IL’s first-half playoff spot, while St.
Paul finished the first half at 42-32, 4.5 games behind. In the second half, the Saints are 40-34, three games back of Indianapolis in the division and four behind East-leading Rochester, which currently holds the second playoff spot.
St. Paul is also up by half a game over the Syracuse Mets.
Walker Jenkins gave St. Paul a bright spot in Anaheim, where he went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run while batting eighth and playing center field.
Emmanuel Rodriguez went 0-for-2 with a strikeout after entering as a pinch hitter in the seventh and staying in left field. Hendry Mendez finished 0-for-4 batting second and playing left field, and Gabriel Gonzalez went 1-for-4 while batting leadoff and playing right field.
Sunday’s finale sends the Saints back to Columbus with Aaron Rozek set to start. The left-hander is 4-6 with a 4.37 ERA.
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