Saint Paul, Minnesota – A wet Fourth of July in the Twin Cities caused the start of the game to be delayed by 90 minutes. The fans that stuck around got to see an interesting pitching strategy executed by the Saints. However, it would not matter as the Gwinnett Stripers built of Wednesday night. For the second straight night the Saints were destroyed. This time by a score of 11-0 in front of 8,295. The Saints dropped to 42-41 on the season and 4-5 in the second half.

You never know what you might see when you show up at the ballpark on any given day. Nacho Alvarez Jr. singled to center to start the game. Next, Drake Baldwin singled. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. struggled to pick up the ball in the wet outfield. That allowed Alvarez to score all the way from first. Louie Varland continued to struggle as the inning went on. Saints’ manager Toby Gardenhire went to the mound to make a unique defensive substitution. After a brief discussion with the umpires Gardenhire signaled for left-fielder Chris Williams, who would come onto pitch while Louie made the run to the outfield. Varland had 42 pitches through 0.2 innings. After last night the Saints bullpen was tired and the team could not afford a short outing from their starter. Williams got the Saints out of the inning when Luis Liberato flew out to right field. In the second, the Saints wanted to reverse the substitution and bring Varland back into pitch. However, the umpire crew insisted that Williams face a minimum of three batters even though he got out of the first inning. Gardenhire would argue, but that would do no good. The umpire crew made the decision and Williams was forced to face two more hitters. Sandy Leon walked and Skye Bolt singled. That was the end of the night on the mound for Williams. With Williams back in left field and Louie Varland back on the mound Alvarez was back at the plate for the Stripers. Alvarez hit a three-run homer to give Gwinnett a 4-0 lead. In the end, this move allowed Varland an opportunity to reset and stay in the game. However, this move costed the Saints the designated-hitter spot, which meant pitchers got the opportunity to take swings at the plate. The Saints would not get much more out of Varland. He worked 2.2 innings and allowed two runs on four hits and threw 73 pitches. Varland left the game with his team down 4-0, but the other two runs were charged to Chris Williams.

If things were not bad already it really fell apart for Nick Wittgren and the Saints in the fourth. Wittgren worked 0.2 innings and allowed 6 runs. Jeff Brigham would come in and got out of the fourth inning. Gwinnett had a 10-0 lead after four. Brigham finally stopped the bleeding. He worked 2.1 innings and did not allow any runs.

Zach Logue dominated the Saints on Thursday night. Logue worked five innings and allowed no runs on five hits. He struck out five Saints batters and walked nobody. Along with the offensive fireworks put up by the Stripers the Saints stood no chance. Brooks Wilson came on and continued the Stripers domination of the Saints. The Stripers pitching staff did not walk a single batter all night.

Chris Williams had quite the night. He pitched and made the defensive play of the game. Back in the first inning, Williams robbed Chadwick Tromp of a homer. Williams timed his jump above the wall perfectly to bring the ball back into the park.

Payton Eeles made his AAA debut on Thursday. He went 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch. He tried to steal a base but was caught.

The Saints had to cancel the monster food truck rally post-game due to wet grounds; however, CHS Field would be one of the few places in the Twin Cities to still have Fourth of July fireworks.

The Gwinnett Stripers and Saint Paul Saints meet in game four of a six-game series on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from CHS Field. The Saints are TBA while the Stripers will send LHP Dylan Dodd (2-7, 4.74) to the mound. The game can be seen on MiLB.TV and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.