SAINT PAUL, MINN. – The Omaha Storm Chasers fell behind in the first inning and trailed the entire night, falling to the St. Paul Saints 5-2 at CHS Field Thursday night.
Omaha starter Andrew Hofmann fell in an early hole, as he surrendered a pair of runs in the first on three hits and two walks, as the Saints sent eight batters to the plate in the opening frame.
St. Paul tagged Hoffmann for an additional run in the second and one unearned run in the fourth, as the righty took his fifth loss of the season, tagged for four runs on five hits and three walks in 4.0 innings.
Left-hander Walter Pennington followed Hoffmann in the fifth inning and allowed a run on three straight two-out hits, but settled down to work a scoreless sixth inning. Steven Cruz came in behind Pennington and threw two scoreless innings, retiring six of seven batters faced, with both relivers striking out two.
The Storm Chasers struggled to create scoring opportunities off Saints starter Randy Dobnak, who worked into the eighth inning. A pair of hits in both the fourth and fifth innings didn’t produce a run and after Dobnak worked scoreless sixth and seventh innings, it wasn’t until the eighth inning Omaha was able to work onto the board.
Dobnak hit the first two batters of the eighth and was removed from the game and a pair of walks scored the first run, with Nick Pratto challenging a strike call that was overturned to ball four to bring home a run with the bases loaded.
While Omaha left the tying run at the plate in the eighth, the Chasers battled again in the ninth inning. Brian O’Keefe opened the ninth with a single, his 11th straight game with a hit and career-best 20th consecutive game on base. After a fielder’s choice, John Rave doubled in Cam Devanney but Omaha couldn’t get the tying run out of the on-deck circle and fell 5-2.
Rave, CJ Alexander and Tyler Gentry each collected two hits in the loss, for Alexander his team-leading 28th multi-hit game of the season.
Omaha will look to even the series at two wins each Friday at 7:07 p.m. CT with right-hander Chandler Champlain slated to start against the Saints at CHS Field.
