Moore Leaves With Hamstring Injury, Canaries Drop Third Straight To Saints

ST. PAUL, MN -- For a second straight game, the Sioux Falls Canaries (22-43) saw their starting pitcher leave the game with an injury as Ben Moore left in the seventh inning with a tweaked hamstring.  Moore exited with the game tied, preventing the righthander from winning his record-setting 54th game in a Sioux Falls uniform.  The St. Paul Saints (38-26) later scored the winning run in the eighth and went on to take their third straight game over the Canaries by a score of 4-3.

After failing to score in the first inning despite having two men on base with nobody out, the Canaries struck first in the third inning on three Saints errors.  Brandon Jones delivered the lone base hit in the inning and the Birds held a 1-0 lead.

The Saints quickly erased that lead in the bottom half of the inning, sending seven men to the plate and pushing across three runs.  Devin Thaut, Willy Cabrera and Angelo Songco each had an RBI in the inning and the Saints then led 3-1.

Brandon Jones tied the game up at 3 in the sixth.  Coming to bat with the bases loaded and two outs, Jones lined a base hit up the middle and scored Kevin Dultz and Stephen Branca. The Canaries would not score again on the day.

Moore left the game with one out in seventh inninbg after pulling up with a lame hamstring covering first base.  He left with the game tied and having surrendered three runs on eight hits, while striking out five and walking just one batter.  Chase Boruff relieved and got through the seventh unscathed, but was tagged for the winning run in the eighth inning.  Songco singled in Sam Maus to give the Saints a 4-3 edge, which woud be the final score.

Boruff is now 0-1 after taking the loss.

Mike Mahlich pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win and improve to 6-1.  Dan Sattler earned his 15th save.  Saints starter Anthony Claggett did not factor in the decision despite not giving up an earned run.  He did allow three unearned runs in his six innings on seven hits, while striking out six and walking four.

The series finale will be Thursday night and it will be the last time the Canaries play at historic Midway Stadium.  First pitch will be at 7:05 PM.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Canaries