Cards see some positives in loss - Springfield News-Leader

Saturday was a classic case in the minor leagues of the losing team, in this case the Springfield Cardinals, being far more optimistic that a couple of prospects took some much-needed baby steps.

Tyler Lyons engaged Nick Schmidt in a competitive showdown of former big-time NCAA Division I left-handers, delivering his first dominant performance of the season, and struggling cleanup hitter Xavier Scruggs supplied a pair of solo home runs.

But it was all bittersweet after the Cardinals were left to eat a 3-2 loss to the Tulsa Drillers, who quieted a Hammons Field crowd of 6,263 on Jose Gonzalez’s tying, two-run home run in the seventh and prospect hitter Nolan Arenado’s go-ahead double in the eighth.

“You’ll take it anytime you go six innings and you’re efficient out there,” said Lyons, a ninth-round draft pick in 2009. “But, as far as a team goal, we ended up losing, and that’s not what we’re looking to do. But it was something for me to build off of.”

Lyons wasn’t the only one saying that after he handed over a four-hit shutout after six innings to Kevin Thomas. The former three-year starter both as a Texas high school quarterback and later as an Oklahoma State pitcher atoned for starts of 4 2/3 and 1 2/3 innings.

“In our job, there are things that don’t work out in the end but a lot of things you take positives in. I take a lot of positives in Tyler Lyons’ performance,” Springfield manager Mike Shildt said. “He really threw the ball very well.”

A dominant left-hander in Springfield’s rotation would give the club two â€" the other being John Gast, now 3-0 â€" to go alongside young right-hander Trevor Rosenthal and veterans Scott Gorgen and Michael Blazek.

Lyons, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound lefty, showed promise: He spotted his fastball well but leaned more on a change-up and curveball. He struck out the side in the first after Josh Rutledge deposited his second pitch into the left-field gap, and also got two key double plays to thwart potential rallies.

Said Arenado, “He mixed all his pitches well.”

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Lyons needed to as Tulsa rode Schmidt, a former Arkansas Razorback and 2007 first-round pick of the San Diego Padres trying to regain his form since 2008 elbow surgery.

Schmidt, mixing in a deceptive curveball, struck out seven and scattered four hits beyond the two, two-out, two-strike home runs to Scruggs, who entered Saturday in an 8-for-52 slump.

Scruggs’ first home run came two pitches after Schmidt didn’t get a strike-three call off a well-placed curveball.

“It was close,” Scruggs said, grinning. “I definitely sided with the umpire on that one.”

Still, Tulsa rallied from the 2-0 deficit.

Chasing a three-hit day, Gonzalez in the seventh jumped on a misplaced fastball from Thomas, who was clearly trying to sneak in a ground-ball generating two-seamer â€" to get the double play â€" but hung it.

An inning later, with Tulsa calling for a hit-and-run against Eric Fornataro (1-1), Arenado smoked a liner off a hanging curveball, shooting just over the head of third baseman Niko Vasquez. Mike Mitchell scored from first base.

“If it’s about a foot down,” Shildt said of Arenado’s liner, “it’s a double play.”

Fornataro had attempted two pickoff moves and a pitch-out on an 0-2 count, part of an at-bat in which Arenado had the most impressive non-hit of the day â€" a barely foul shot that landed well past the walkway behind the left-field foul pole.

“This series, we haven’t been hitting the ball the way we wanted. So it was good to come out with a win,” said Arenado, who had one of Tulsa’s 10 hits. “We haven’t been getting too many hits and we haven’t been playing well.”