MIDLAND, Texas – The Springfield Cardinals struck for four runs in the top of the seventh to win the opener against the Midland RockHounds, 6-3, before 3,260 fans at Security Bank Ballpark on Sunday evening.
With Cardinals RHP Dakota Hudson making his regular season debut, the RockHounds (2-2) seized an early lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the first. The frame began with three straight singles to load the bases with no outs. Dealing to LF Tyler Marincov, Hudson skipped a pitch by C Luis Cruz. While RF B.J. Boyd tried to score from third on the play, the ball charomed off the base of the backstop right back to Cruz, who flipped it to Hudson at home plate to retire Boyd and keep it scoreless. On the very next pitch, Hudson struck out Marincov for the second out. Hudson then induced a groundball to third base from 1B Joe Bennie, but 3B Bruce Caldwell committed a fielding error that enabled the inning to continue and 2B Melvin Mercedes to score for the 1-0 RockHounds lead.
Hudson settled in with a scoreless second inning, before the Cardinals (3-1) tied it in the top of the third against RHP Ben Bracewell. With one away, 2B Eliezer Alvarez worked a walk to reach base. He then went from first to third on a perfectly-executed hit-and-run single from LF Nick Martini, putting runners at the corners. Caldwell came through with a game-tying RBI single up the middle, extending his RBI streak to four straight games and evening the score, 1-1.
The Cardinals then pulled in front in the top of the fourth. SS Alex Mejia led off with his fourth double of the season, before RHP Kyle Friedrichs (L, 0-1) dug in with back-to-back strikeouts. RF Adolis Garcia, though, delivered a go-ahead two-out RBI single to bring in Mejia and lift the Cardinals ahead, 2-1. It marked Garcia’s first-career RBI in affiliated ball.
Hudson rattled off a streak of 10 straight outs through the first out of the fifth and kept the RockHounds bats in check until the bottom of the sixth. With two down, CF Brett Vertigan extended the inning with a two-out single. SS Richie Martin then lined a hard-hit fly ball to right field that got in over the head of RF Adolis Garcia. The ball bounced towards the warning track, allowing Vertigan to score from first and Martin to come all the way home for a two-run, inside-the-park home run that swung Midland back in front, 3-2.
RHP Blake McKnight (W, 1-0) retired the final batter of the sixth with no further damage, before Springfield bounced back in the top of the seventh. CF Oscar Mercado sparked the rally with a leadoff single to start the stanza. Garcia came up next and bounced the ball back to the mound. Friedrichs attempted to start a double play, but errantly threw the ball into center field enabling Mercado to not only be safe at second, but also get to third. With runners at the corners, Friedrichs then tried to pick off Garcia from first base. However, Friedrichs committed his second error of the inning when his pick-off throw skipped away, allowing Mercado to score and Garcia to go to second. With the game tied, Alvarez drew the second of his three walks in the game, putting two on with still no outs. Martini then dealt the go-ahead blow, scorching a two-run double into the left field corner to plate Garcia and Alvarez for the 5-3 lead. After Caldwell was hit by a pitch, DH Jacob Wilson added one more insurance run with an RBI sacrifice fly that brought in Martini, making it 6-3.
McKnight followed with two more scoreless innings of relief work to keep the three-run lead intact through the seventh and eighth. RHP Corey Baker (S, 1) then slammed the door with a scoreless bottom of the ninth, closing the 6-3 win for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals continue the road trip in Midland on Monday at 6:30pm. Catch all the action live on Jock 98.7FM and SpringfieldCardinals.com, and tune in 15 minutes early for the Coyote’s Sports Cafe Pregame Show.
The Cardinals then come home for Opening Day at Hammons Field on Thursday, April 13.
