St. Paul – The St. Paul Saints had been chasing a record for the last two weeks, a feat no franchise ever wants to repeat. They set a new losing streak record of 12, the longest since becoming the Minnesota Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in 2021. Not only that, but they also lost eight straight games at CHS Field.
The losing streak wasn’t filled with blowout losses every night, either. St. Paul lost seven of those 12 games by one run, and they lost nine of 12 by two runs. The team had kept up a fight in almost all of these games, but the baseball gods appeared to curse them at every turn.
“Losing streaks are always tough,” said Saints manager Toby Gardenhire following their 7-1 loss on Wednesday. “We’ve had some close games, we’ve had some games where we weren’t close like tonight. The reality is you’ve got to keep showing up to the ballpark because the reality is it doesn’t stop playing.”
The Saints wouldn’t be on the losing skid forever; it would have to end at some point. They got their opportunity on Friday when they took the first lead over the Columbus Clippers in the bottom of the second on a two-out RBI single from catcher Patrick Winkel.
St. Paul lost its 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, after a bizarre misplay at first base where starter Mick Abel failed to catch the relay throw from Kyler Fedko. The ball bobbled around the infield and allowed the two runners on base to score, giving the Clippers a 3-1 lead.
For a while after, Saints fans thought the game remained a 3-1 score until the scoreboard updated in the sixth to show they had scored a run in the bottom of the fourth. St. Paul managed to get a run in the fourth, on an RBI fielder’s choice from Winkel, who had runners on the corners with one out.
Winkel hit the ball right at Clippers’ first baseman Dayan Frías, who had the ball trapped in his glove’s webbing long enough for Emmanuel Rodriguez to score from third before they made the throw to get Jonah Bride out a second. That run counted for the Saints, and it ultimately proved to be a huge difference in helping them end this losing streak.
“I was happy that he stepped on the bag first, and as soon as he hit it, I was like, ‘Oh no, he’s going to throw it to second, get the force and keep the run off the board,” said Winkel. “But he didn’t do that, and it could have been the difference.”
The Saints’ lineup still needed a couple more runs, but lefty Christian MacLeod came out of the bullpen and dominated. He delivered arguably his best performance at Triple-A, going 3 ⅔ innings and allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out seven batters. For a pitcher who owned a 6.83 ERA in his last nine appearances, this was the perfect moment for MacLeod to step up and shove for his team.
“You know, baseball is a really funny game,” said MacLeod. “You go through weird spurts like that, obviously we’re giving our all day in and day out, just some tough luck losing 12 straight, but it’s good to be back on the winning side of things and looking forward to keep this momentum going.”
“He still came back with his best stuff and didn’t let off the gas pedal at all, which was really impressive and really good to see out of him,” Winkel said regarding MacLeod. “Hopefully, that just brings the confidence he has always had up to another level.”
MacLeod exited the game with two outs in the eighth, leaving runners on first and second for teammate Trent Baker. Two pitches in, Baker gave up a hard line drive single to the son of Washington Nationals interim manager, Christian Cairo, that took a quick bounce into right fielder Gabriel Gonzalez’s glove.
It looked like it might have been the moment where the game would be tied 4-4, and the Saints would have another late-inning battle to try to come back and win. But Gonzalez timed everything perfectly to get the runner out at home and maintain a 4-3 lead over Columbus.
“Yeah, I mean, the guy smoked the ball, so I’m like, ‘Okay, he’s got a good shot if he puts it on the money, and he had him by a mile,” said second baseman Payton Eeles, who had a perfect view of Gonzalez’s throw. “It wasn’t close, that’s for sure.”
The Saints held on to win 4-3, providing some much-needed relief for a team on a trying losing streak. The Saints are well out of contention for the Triple-A playoffs and will finish the season with fewer than 70 wins. Winning remains the team’s top priority. Still, from here on out, each player is striving to finish their season strong and secure a spot on the major league roster in 2026.
“Yeah, it was kind of a weight on our shoulders. It was kind of brutal,” said Eeles. “The way it was happening, we had some losses, we lost, whatever. But a couple of them, you blow the lead in late innings or just find hits or something like that. Tonight, we got out hit but just had timely ones and drew our walks when we needed to and just played the game the right way.”