LOUISVILLE, KY. – The Louisville Bats scored six runs in the eighth inning to beat the St. Paul Saints 6-2 on Wednesday, ending the visitors' seven-game winning streak in the series opener. The first game in this series was supposed to be Tuesday, but it was rained out.
Lefthander Charlie Barnes held the host Bats to three hits in six innings and left with a 2-0 lead. He struck out six and walked two.
Reliever Lewis Thorpe followed him and gave up five runs on three hits and two walks in 1⅔ innings. Ian Gibaut relieved him and got the last out in the eighth but gave up the sixth run on two hits.
BOXSCORE: Louisville 6, Saints 2
The big hits for the Bats were Dwight Smith's two-run double which put Louisville ahead 3-2 and Brantley Bell's two-run single to make it 5-2.
Brent Rooker gave the Saints a 1-0 lead with a homer, his sixth of the season, in the fourth inning. They added another run in the fifth when Daniel Descalso walked, moved to second on Keon Broxton's single, to third when JT Riddle was hit by a pitcher, and scored on a force out.
The two teams will play a doubleheader on Thursday, starting at 4:30 p.m., to make up the postponed game. Both game will be seven innings.
Earlier Wednesday, the Saints, to replace two players called up by the Twins, added outfielder Mark Contreras and catcher David Banvelos to their roster from the Class AA Wichita Wind Surge.
