Rain wiped out the game between the Columbus Clippers and St. Paul Saints set for Thursday at Huntington Park. That set up a doubleheader of two seven-inning contests for Friday. The wet stuff hung around Central Ohio and would affect both games, which the Clippers won, 3-2 and 11-1.

Game one was delayed by 95 minutes. The difficult conditions did not seem to bother the Saints, as they opened their first inning with four straight singles and two runs to take an early lead. That would be all of the scoring until the bottom of the seventh inning.

With one out in the home seventh, Will Brennan walked. Juan Brito then doubled to put two Clippers in scoring position. Angel Martínez tied the game with a single to center field that drove in both runners. Will Wilson was next up and he doubled to bring in Martínez from first base to give Columbus a 3-2 victory.

Starter Doug Nikhazy (0-0) pitched well in his second start of the season, but did not figure into the decision, going 3.2 innings and allowing both St. Paul runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out four. Reliever Bradley Hanner (2-0) tossed two scoreless innings to pick up his second win in as many appearances.

The nightcap was a much different story. Rain stopped play after the top of sixth inning, but the Clippers scored in all five innings that they came to the plate and downed St. Paul, 11-1. 

Christian Cairo paced the Columbus offense with four hits, including two doubles, and four runs batted in. Will Wilson followed up his game-winning hit in the opener with two more hits, highlighted by his second home run of the season. Milan Tolentino also had two base knocks and two RBIs for the Clippers.

Kolby Allard got his first start for Columbus and allowed only one run on three hits and a walk. He struck out five in his 4.0 innings of work. The win went to reliever Jack Leftwich (1-0), who threw a scoreless fifth. It was Leftwich’s third appearance of the season and his first Triple-A win.

The teams will do battle again on Saturday, with a single game scheduled at Huntington Park. The first pitch is slated for 4:05 p.m.