Matt Wallner hit a grand slam and Kala’i Rosario homered twice as St. Paul halted a three-game losing streak against Toledo with an 8-1 pounding of the visitors at CHS Field on Saturday night.
After Jack Anderson did something few of his Saints starters have done this week — keeping the Mud Hens from building an early lead — Rosario and David Bañuelos each smacked solo homers to put St. Paul up 2-0 after the second inning.
Toledo touched Anderson for a solo homer in the fifth, costing him a chance for the victory as Matt Bowman was called on to squelch the prospective threat with two outs in the frame.
If there were any jangled nerves for the home side in the top of the fifth, Wallner soothed any and all tension with a full-house homer that cleared the sacks of Bañuelos, Alan Roden and Gabriel Gonzalez. It was the former Twins outfielder’s franchise record-extending 24th round tripper of the season, and it put the Saints up by a fairly comfortable score of 6-1.
Wallner drove home Gonzalez with a seventh-inning single for his fifth RBI of the evening, before Rosario capped off the game the way he started it — a solo homer to left field.
Bowman (4-4, 4.05 ERA) allowed Toledo the last three hits it would get in the game, tossing 1 1/3 innings and striking out four batters.
Relievers Garrett Acton and Marco Raya slammed the door shut from there, combining to strike out five while allowing just one walk over the Mud Hens’ final three turns at the plate.
Offensively, St. Paul cranked out 11 hits, led by two hits apiece by Wallner, Rosario and Gonzalez.
The same two teams meet in the finale of the six-game series at 2:07 p.m. Sunday afternoon at CHS Field. The Saints send crafty lefty Aaron Rozek (3-4, 4.07) to the mound against Toledo right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long (2-6 ,5.50).
[related_articles location=”left” show_article_date=”false” article_type=”automatic-primary-tag”