DaShawn Keirsey Jr. joined an exclusive group on Tuesday night at CHS Field. With a second inning single he became just the fifth player in franchise history to collect 100 hits in a season. It wasn’t enough though, as the Saints lost for the 10th consecutive time, 9-4 to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in front of 6,913.
The RailRiders put up a crooked number in the first as the first four batters reached and scored. Caleb Durbin led off with a walk and took second on a single to right-center by Jasson Dominguez. A passed ball advanced the runners up 90-feet. Jorbit Vivas singled to left scoring Durbin and the fielding error by left fielder Wynton Bernard allowed Dominguez to score making it 2-0. Carlos Narvaez made it 4-0 with a two-run homer to left, his 10th of the season.
With two outs and nobody on in the second, the RailRiders added another run. Dominguez singled to left-center, stole second, and Vivas walked. Narvaez singled to left scoring Dominguez increasing the RailRiders lead to 5-0.
An error proved costly in the third inning allowing the RailRiders to increase their lead. Jahmai Jones led off reaching on a two base fielding error by Bernard on a fly ball to left. A groundout moved Jones to third and two batters later Kevin Smith increased the lead to 6-0 with a sacrifice fly.
The RailRiders made it 7-0 in the fifth on a one out double by J.C. Escarra and a two-out RBI single from Smith.
The runs kept coming for the RailRiders in the sixth. After back-to-back singles to start the inning by Dominguez and Vivas, Jones ripped a two-out, two-run triple to left-center making it 9-0.
In the seventh, the Saints broke up the shutout. Yunior Severino led off with a double to left, Jair Camargo reached on an infield single to third, and Keirsey Jr. blasted a three-run homer to right, his 13th of the season, making it 9-3. Keirsey Jr. finished the night 3-4 with a home run, three RBI, and a run scored. He joined Andrew Stevenson (132 hits in 2023), Tomás Telís (125 hits in 2021), Jose Miranda (117 hits in 2021), and Jermaine Palacios (111 hits in 2022) as the only players in franchise history with 100 or more hits in a season.
Payton Eeles led off the eighth inning for the Saints with a triple to center and scored on a broken bat bloop single to right by Michael Helman making it 9-4, but unlike the previous nine losses when the Saints had the tying or winning run at the plate in the ninth in seven of those nine games (the only other two were walk-off losses), they couldn’t get any closer.
The same two teams meet in game two of a six-game series on Wednesday night at 7:07 p.m. at CHS Field. The Saints send RHP Louie Varland (4-8, 4.91) to the mound against RailRiders RHP Will Warren (5-5, 6.11).
(info courtesy of Saints)
