Rox Fall to Mud Puppies, Phillies Rout Twins

The St. Cloud Rox opened their final series of the regular season with a loss at home to the Minnesota Mud Puppies on Friday, and the Minnesota Twins tallied their fourth straight loss with a disappointing showing in Philadelphia.

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- The Rox rallied several times in Friday's matchup against the Mud Puppies but ultimately came up short 15-11. The visitors started with a bang, scoring four runs in the first inning. That lead stood until St. Cloud got on the board in the bottom of the third, also scoring four runs to tie it up. The Mud Puppies retook the lead 5-4 in the top of the fourth and pushed out to 6-4 in the fifth. Once again, the Rox tied it up 6-6 with two runs in the fifth. But the visitors didn't leave the score tied for long, sending two runners home in the sixth to take their third lead of the day 8-6. The teams continued to battle back and forth through the final three innings where the Mud Puppies outscored the Rox 7-5 to secure the win. Kevin Butler led St. Cloud with three runs. Ryan Chmielewski struck out five batters and allowed six runs on eleven hits in the first five innings. The Rox fall to 43-24 and will close out the regular season against the Mud Puppies (11-32) at home on Saturday. Pre-game coverage begins at 5:35 p.m. on AM 1390 and 93.9 FM KXSS.

- The Twins got demolished in game one of the road series in Philadephia, losing 13-2. After a scoreless first inning, the Twins got on the board with solo home runs from Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler in the second. Then it was all Philly for the remainder of the game. The Phillies tallied six runs in the second, three in the fourth, and two more in both the sixth and eighth innings for a resounding win. Minnesota's Dallas Keuchel allowed six runs on six hits and did not throw a single strikeout before being pulled off the mound two-thirds of the way through the second inning. The bullpen then combined for six strikeouts and seven runs on nine hits. The Twins fall to 60-58 and will take on Philly (65-52) again in game two on Saturday. Pre-game coverage starts at 4:30 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.