Saints hold on with Lewis leading the way

Royce Lewis put on a show at CHS Field on Tuesday night, hitting two home runs for the second time in seven games as the St. Paul Saints held on to beat the Indianapolis Indians 7-6 before a crowd of 4,452. The win gave St. Paul three straight. mlb

The Saints came out swinging from the jump. Kaelen Culpepper led off the bottom of the first with his 13th homer of the season, his sixth leadoff blast of the year, tied for the most in baseball. The offense kept rolling in the third when Lewis crushed a three-run shot to left with two outs, a 114.1 mph exit velocity that ranks as the second hardest hit ball of his career, pushing the lead to 4-0. The Saints extended it further in the fourth on an Aaron Sabato sacrifice fly, and again in the fifth when Culpepper scored on a Kyler Fedko sacrifice lineout to make it 6-0. mlb

Lewis added an exclamation point in the seventh with his second homer of the night, a solo shot to left that pushed the lead to 7-1. But the Indians made things interesting in the eighth. Davis Wendzel cleared the bases with a grand slam, and an error by Gabby Gonzalez on a throw from Culpepper allowed another run to score, suddenly cutting the Saints' lead to 7-6 heading into the ninth. mlb

Raul Brito slammed the door in relief, retiring the first two batters in the ninth and stranding a baserunner to lock up the win. The two teams will meet again Wednesday afternoon at 1:07 p.m.