The St. Paul Saints started their series against the Columbus Clippers with a 7-4 win Tuesday at Huntington Park. It looked as though the Saints would take the second game but the Clippers had other ideas, rallying with three home runs to even the series at a game apiece with a 7-6 victory.

St. Paul took a 5-0 lead Wednesday with a run in the fourth inning and four in the fifth. All five runs were charged to Columbus starter Ryan Webb (2-0), who had delivered quality performances in his previous five starts. The Clippers responded in the fifth with three runs, highlighted by Estevan Florial’s eighth home run of the season.

The Saints scored another run in the seventh inning to take a 6-3 lead. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Micah Pries hit the second long ball of the game for the Clippers, this one with two runners aboard, and the game was tied. It was Pries’s eighth home of the campaign.

With the score knotted at 6-6 going into the bottom of the ninth inning, the stage was set for dramatic finish. St. Paul closer, Diego Castillo, retired the first two Clippers’ batters. Columbus slugger Johnathan Rodriguez came to the plate and smacked a walk-off home run for the win. He leads the Clippers in homers (25) and RBIs (84) this season.

Tanner Burns (5-2) pitched the final 2.1 innings of the game for Columbus and picked up the win. Castillo (0-5) was tagged with the loss. With the victory, the Clippers stayed stayed three games ahead of Indianapolis in the playoff chase. The Indians have won four straight.

Columbus and St. Paul are back at it Thursday with a game scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. Connor Gillispie (4-7) will take the hill for the Clippers and will face Andrew Morris (1-0) for the Saints.