The St. Paul Saints got strong starting pitching from Adam Plutko on Sunday on the road against the Iowa Cubs. The offense didn’t help Plutko and the bullpen blew the game late in a 9-1 loss for St. Paul, which lost three of the last four games and split the series with Iowa.

Plutko struck out the first five batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until one out in the third inning. Two infield singles — the first being a 38 mph grounder — were the first two hits for the Cubs, but Plutko got out of the inning. He finished five scoreless innings with just four hits allowed to go with six strikeouts.

But the Cubs scored twice in the sixth, twice in the seventh and five times in the eighth. St. Paul’s Hobie Harris (1-4) relieved Plutko and ran into trouble.

Harris gave up four runs — three earned — in two innings, allowing four hits and two walks. Scott Blewett was then charged with five runs allowed while getting just one out. He surrendered six hits.

St. Paul’s lone run came in the on an RBI single by Tony Kemp that plated DaShawn Keirsey Jr. Keirsey Jr. had led off the inning with a single to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.

Matt Wallner had two hits for the Saints, who return home to start a series with the Gwinnett Stripers on Tuesday. Randy Dobnak (6-5, 4.05) is scheduled to start for St. Paul.

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