SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The Northwest Arkansas Naturals came from behind with a 7th inning rally to take the 5-2 win against the Springfield Cardinals before 2,715 fans at Hammons Field on Tuesday night.
Following a pair of scoreless innings from Cardinals RHP Daniel Poncedeleon (L, 1-2) to start the game, Springfield (10-8) swung in front against RHP Christian Binford (W, 2-2) in the bottom of the second. RF David Washington sparked the charge with a leadoff walk, followed quickly by a double into the left field corner from 3B Paul DeJong. DH Chris Jacobs then muscled a broken-bat, two-run single to left-center field, plating both runners for the 2-0 lead.
Poncedeleon then dominated the Naturals (7-11) bats, retiring 14 in a row from the final two outs in the second through the end of the sixth, racking up a career-high 10 strikeouts in the process.
However, the Naturals broke through in the top of the seventh. With a leadoff single, CF Bubba Starling became the first man to reach against Poncedeleon since the second inning. After 3B Hunter Dozier worked a walk, 1B Mauricio Ramos then grounded an RBI single up the middle to get Northwest Arkansas on the board. With two on and no outs, DH Frank Schwindel sent a three-run homer over the left-center field wall, catapulting the Naturals into the 4-2 lead. One out later, LF Carlos Garcia singled himself on, leading to RHP John Brebbia taking over on the mound. After Garcia swiped second, Brebbia struck out RF Logan Moon for the second out. However, SS Ramon Torres connected for an RBI single to score Garcia and make it 5-2.
Binford closed his start with a three-up, three-down seventh, retiring the final 18 batters that he faced in a row. Northwest Arkansas then received scoreless relief from LHP Estarlin Cordero in the eighth and RHP Kevin McCarthy (S, 3) in the ninth, closing the 5-2 win for the Naturals.
Click here for the complete box score from Tuesday's game.
