Springfield Cardinals Move Closer to Top of Pile with a 9-4 Win Over Tulsa Drillers - AA, Texas League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - The Springfield Cardinals pulled to within just two games of first place on Friday night, beating the Tulsa Drillers by a score of 9-4 at Drillers Stadium. The win for Springfield is their fifth straight and brings them to within one game of the .500 mark at 29-30. Steven Hill hit a tie-breaking home run in the seventh and Springfield scored four in the ninth to break the game open against Drillers’ closer Ryan Mattheus. 

Tied 4-4 in the seventh, Hill took Tulsa starter Xavier Cedeno (3-6) deep to left field, his fifth homer of the year and third homer in as many games in the series, making it 5-4. The Cards left the bases loaded in the eighth, but wouldn’t make that mistake in the ninth. 

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With the bases loaded and two outs, Mattheus uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Jose Martinez to score, making it a two-run game at 6-4.  On the very next pitch, Shane Robinson ripped a two-run double to right-center field, scoring Mark Shorey and Matt Pagnozzi for an 8-4 lead.  Jon Jay followed with an RBI triple, capping the four-run frame at 9-4. 

Springfield grabbed the early lead in the second, taking advantage of poor Tulsa defense.  Shane Robinson’s two-out groundball to third went right between the legs of Tony Blanco, allowing Springfield to take a 2-0 lead as two men scored. Kyle Sadlowski, making the spot-start for Clayton Mortensen, who was promoted to Triple-A Memphis on Friday morning, worked into the third inning. 

With two outs though, Sadlowski was removed after walking a pair of hitters in the inning.  Justin Fiske came out of the Springfield bullpen and allowed a two-run single to Matt Miller and a two-run homer to Blanco, as the Drillers took a 4-2 lead. 

Fiske settled down and worked a total of 2 1/3 innings, keeping the deficit at two runs.  Springfield chipped away, getting an unearned run in the fourth and the tying run in the sixth, on Robinson’s RBI single, evening the game at 4-4. 

Robinson finished the game with three hits, extending his streak to ten straight games with a hit. 

Springfield reliever Scott Vander Weg (1-0) worked a scoreless sixth inning, picking up the win out of the bullpen. 

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