Mud Hens' bats silent in 11-3 loss to St. Paul Saints

A four-run top of the second inning was all St. Paul needed to dispatch Toledo, but for good measure the Saints continued to add on throughout the game for an 11-3 victory over the Mud Hens at Fifth Third Field on Saturday.

In that top of the second, St. Paul’s Wynton Bernard led off with a single and scored the game’s first run when Anthony Prato followed with a triple. Then, Patrick Winkel’s RBI single scored Prato to make it 2-0. Two batters later, after a Payton Eeles walk, Dalton Shuffield’s single scored Winkel (3-0).

The Saints later added another run on Rylan Bannon’s one-out RBI single.

For Toledo (42-52) in the bottom of the inning, Spencer Torkelson garnered a leadoff walk and rode home on a Bligh Madris double that made it 4-1. Following Ryan Kreidler’s fly out, the Mud Hens trimmed the deficit in half (4-2) thanks to Justice Bigbie’s RBI single, scoring Madris.

St. Paul (46-48) extended their lead at 6-2 in the third with RBI singles from Prato and Shuffield.

The Saints added a run in the seventh on a bases loaded walk drawn by Prato for a 7-2 advantage. In the ninth, they sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring four times to put a cap on the win.

The Hens made it 11-3 in the bottom of the ninth on an Andrew Navigato RBI single that scored Anthony Bemboom.

Toledo starting pitcher Sean Guenther was pulled after the second inning and took the loss. St. Paul got a solid effort from starter Adam Plutko, who pitched 5⅓ innings, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out six batters.

Toledo hosts St. Paul in the series finale at 4:05 p.m. Sunday. Brant Hurter will start for Toledo, facing St. Paul’s Zebby Matthews.