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Festa cruises as Saints shut out Bisons 7-0

brian hall, pioneer press
·1 min read

David Festa’s standout run continued Saturday as he pitched five scoreless innings for the St. Paul Saints in a 7-0 win in Buffalo against the Bisons.

DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Will Holland homered for the Saints, who have won three in a row.

The offense tallied 13 hits, but it was Festa and two relievers who dominated on Saturday.

Festa (1-1) struck out eight batters and gave up just one hit and one walk in his five innings. Jordan Balazovic allowed two hits and a walk in three scoreless innings and Ryan Jensen finished the game with a perfect inning with two strikeouts. Balazovic had two strikeouts as St. Paul combined for 12 strikeouts.

Festa, the Twins’ top pitching prospect according to MLB Pipeline, has now allowed just two runs over his last three starts, covering 10 innings. He’s struck out 22 batters in that time and lowered his ERA to 2.77 this season.

Keirsey, who drove in four runs, had an RBI single in the first inning to score Royce Lewis, who is playing on a rehab assignment. Lewis was 1 for 4 as the designated hitter.

Keirsey later scored when Yunior Severino reached on a throwing error.

In the second, Keirsey hit a three-run homer, his seventh long ball of the season. Holland added his fourth homer, a two-run shot, in the eighth.

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