Game Information: St. Paul Saints (69-74) vs. Indianapolis Indians (73-70)
September 22, 2022 – International League (IL) – Indianapolis Indians News Release
LOCATION: Victory Field
FIRST PITCH: 7:05 PM ET
GAME #144 / Home #73: St. Paul Saints (69-74) vs. Indianapolis Indians (73-70)
PROBABLES: RHP Randy Dobnak (1-1, 6.39) vs. RHP Jerad Eickhoff (6-7, 5.06)
RADIO: FoxSportsIndy.com / Fox Sports 1260 / iHeart app
TV: MiLB TV
ABOUT YESTERDAY: Quinn Priester dazzled in his Triple-A debut and the Indianapolis Indians went up big with home runs by Blake Sabol and Malcom Nunez to defeat the St. Paul Saints on Wednesday afternoon at Victory Field, 7-1. Priester spun 5.0 two-hit, shutout innings and fired 47 of his 71 pitches for strikes while collecting six strikeouts. The Indians offense plated five runs in the third against Saints starter Jordan Balazovic. Endy Rodriguez jumpstarted the scoring with a pair of runners on, lining his second double in as many games into right field to plate Jared Oliva and Ji-Hwan Bae. Sabol followed with his fifth Triple-A home run to extend the lead to 4-0 without an out being recorded. Two batters later, Malcom Nunez – who lined a single 112 MPH off the bat in his first Triple-A plate appearance – sent a fly ball over the left-field wall for his first home run at the level. Rodriguez tacked onto Indy’s lead after lining a two-run single to extend the lead to 7-0. The Saints would score their only run via a Ryan Jeffers solo home run to straightaway center in the top of the eighth.
NUNEY RIPS IT: Third basemen Malcom Nunez impressed in his Triple-A debut, going 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk. After roping a single in the gap in first Triple-A plate appearance, he would follow it up with a towering fly ball over the left-center fence and onto the berm. Wednesday’s solo blast was 23rd of the season between Double-A Springfield (17), Double-A Altoona (5) and Indianapolis (1). The 21-year-old is currently rated the No. 12 prospect – according to MLB Pipeline – in Pittsburgh’s organization after being acquired from St. Louis on Aug. 2 with RHP Johan Oviedo in exchange for southpaw Jose Quintana and right-hander Chris Stratton.
TRENDY ENDY: Endy Rodriguez has made himself a prospect to remember throughout his outstanding season, currently ranked Pittsburgh’s No. 6 prospect and No. 100 in all of Minor League Baseball. Rodriguez has shined in his first two Triple-A games at Victory Field after an impressive season with High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona. He followed Tuesday’s 2-for-3 performance, in his Triple-A debut, with a 3-for-4 day at the plate and a season-high tying four RBI. The 22-year-old currently leads all Pirates farmhands with 92 RBI, A .587 slugging percentage, .996 OPS, 143 total hits, 39 doubles, 66 extra-base hits, 260 total bases and 91 runs scored. This season, he has more multi-hit games (39) than hitless games (32).
DOING OLIVA IT: Jared Oliva has done nothing but hit, steal bags and flash the leather in the outfield over the past two months. On Wednesday afternoon, he posted his sixth three-hit performance of the season, three of which have come in the month of September. Since Aug. 3, Oliva is hitting .369 (38-for-103) with 17 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, three home runs, 20 RBI and eight stolen bases in nine attempts. During this span, he has hit safely in 23 of his 30 games. Defensively, the outfielder is currently riding an 86-game errorless streak – which is the second-longest active streak in the International League and the third longest this season.
DINGERS: The Indians have slugged 24 dingers this month – tied for the second-most in the International League – and 12 home runs in their last 8 games. This is the most home runs the squad has tallied in a month since May (27) with seven more games remaining this month to add to the total. Blake Sabol, who launched a home run in yesterday’s contest, leads the team with five home runs this month, followed by Brendt Citta and Jose Godoy who both have three blasts.
TODAY: The Indians will look to build on their winning ways as they continue the six-game series with St. Paul to conclude their 2022 home schedule. The two squads are meeting for the fourth time this season and the second time at Victory Field. They first met at CHS Field on April 12-17 and then May 24-29, with the Saints taking seven of those 12 games and the Indians take five of six games at Victory Field with three games remaining. Taking the mound for Indianapolis today is RHP Jerad Eickhoff (6-7, 5.06), who will be making his 20th start of the season and fourth appearance (third start) against St. Paul. Countering for the Saints will be RHP Randy Dobnak (1-1, 6.39), who has one career start against the Indians that came on July 28, 2019 with Rochester. He tossed 6.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits with four walks.
THAT’S AN ACE: Quinn Priester, who is rated as the No. 47 prospect in Minor League Baseball and No. 3 in the Pirates organization, dazzled in his Triple-A debut with 5.0 two-hit, scoreless innings. In 15 starts with Altoona, his season shortened by an oblique injury to begin the campaign, the 22-year-old went 4-4 with a 2.87 ERA (24er/75.1ip), 75 strikeouts and 1.19 WHIP. The Glendale Heights, Ill. native was selected by Pittsburgh as the 18th overall pick of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of Cary-Grove (Ill.) High School.
OSVALDO ON STRIKEOUTS: Osvaldo Bido dazzled over 5.2 two-hit innings Tuesday night, registering his second career-high 10-strikeout performance (also: June 5, 2019 with Single-A West Virginia vs. Charleston). The right-hander now is tied for the fifth-most strikeouts this season at 119, and since the All-Star break he leads all International League pitchers with 57 punchouts. He has been dominant over his last 11 games (eight starts), going 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA (12er/46.2ip) and has given up one earned run or less in eight of those total appearances.
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