Springfield Cardinals Hold Off Tulsa Drillers 5-4 - KTTS

By Chase Snider

CREATED 6:00 AM

Tulsa, OK (Springfield Cardinals)- The long ball got to Springfield on Friday night as Tulsa belted a pair of two-run homers late in the to beat the Cardinals, but the wind blowing in from center would be a factor Saturday night at ONEOK Field.

Springfield had All-Star righty Trevor Rosenthal on the mound in his final start prior to the break against Joe Gardner of the Drillers.

The Cardinals were the first to strike Saturday as they took advantage of a two out walk to Greg Garcia and Xavier Scruggs blasted a two-run homer to right field to grab a quick 2-0 lead.

In the 4th, Scruggs came to the plate again with Garcia on base and doubled down the left field line to score another run making it 3-0. Jake Shaffer then delivered an RBI double in the 5th to score Kolten Wong to make it 4-0.

Meanwhile, Trevor Rosenthal allowed just two hits in five shutout innings. He struck out four and did not walk a batter. Newcomer, Scott McGregor entered in the 6th and allowed a one out double to Josh Rutledge who came in to score on an RBI single by Nolan Arenado. A walk and an infield single later, the Driller had the bases loaded, but McGregor got a pop up to end the inning with Springfield in front 4-1.

In the 8th, the Drillers lead-off man reached on an error and scored on an RBI triple by Corey Dickerson to cut the Springfield lead in half. After a walk put runners on the corners, Jorge Rondon was brought in out of the bullpen. An 11-pitch at bat with Ben Paulsen resulted in a double play scoring Dickerson making it just a one run game 4-3.

The Cardinals added a much needed insurance run in the 9th as Travis Tartamella blasted a solo homer to left center to give Springfield a 5-3 advantage.

In the bottom of the 9th, Eric Fornataro allowed a lead off double to Kiel Roling before Lars Davis singled to center to scoring Roling making it 5-4. After a double play ground out, Tim Torres flied out to deep center field to end the game with Cardinals evening the series.

Springfield will continue their four-game set with the Tulsa Drillers tomorrow night at 7:05pm in Tulsa. The Cardinals will send Richard Castillo to the mound against Dan Houston of the Drillers.

The Cardinals will not return home until Friday, June 29th after the All-Star break to host the Frisco RoughRiders in a three game series.