Andrew Buchbinder (Springfield Cardinals Media Relations) Springfield, MO – With rehabbing St. Louis Cardinals LHP Tyler Lyons on the mound and OF Magneuris Sierra making his Double-A debut, the Springfield Cardinals blew past the Northwest Arkansas, 8-2, before 6,725 fans at Hammons Field on Saturday evening.
Facing LHP Tyler Lyons (W, 1-0), the Naturals (22-18) staked an early lead in the top of the first inning. With one on and two down, 3B Mauricio Ramos cleared the center field fence with a two-run home run, swinging the Naturals into the 2-0 lead.
After the home run, Lyons dug in with seven straight outs before the bats got going in the bottom of the third against RHP Ashton Goudeau (L, 2-3). With one away, 3B Jacob Wilson worked a walk and quickly moved to second base on a single from C Gabriel Lino. CF Oscar Mercado then drew a walk to load the bases with one away for LF Magneuris Sierra. In his Double-A debut after hitting .367 in seven games with St. Louis, Sierra came through with an RBI sacrifice fly to center field, bringing in Wilson to shave the deficit to 2-1.
Lyons extended his consecutive outs streak to 10 straight with a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, before the Cardinals completed the comeback in the bottom of the fourth. Leading off the inning, 2B Bruce Caldwell hammered a solo home run, his sixth long-ball of the year, tying the game at 2-2. One out later, 1B Casey Grayson followed suit with a solo blast of his own to swing the Cardinals into the 3-2 lead.
Springfield kept swinging away in the bottom of the fifth, rattling off four runs. Lino led it off with a double down the left field side, before LHP Luis Rico retired Mercado. Sierra, though, ripped an RBI triple down the right field line for his first-career Double-A hit, plating Lino to make it a two-run lead. Sierra then glided home on an RBI base hit from CF Adolis Garcia, followed by a single from Caldwell. A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, before both came in on a two-run single from DH Anthony Garcia, extending his hitting streak to 12 straight games and increasing the Cardinals lead to 7-2.
LHP Ian McKinney took over and tossed a scoreless top of the sixth, before Sierra and the Cardinals struck again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Facing RHP Pedro Fernandez, Wilson led off with a single. One out later, Mercado skipped a single through the middle, moving Wilson to second base. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and then Sierra notched his third RBI with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Wilson from third to make it 8-2.
McKinney came back with a scoreless seventh to close his two-inning outing. RHP Tyler Bray picked up right where McKinney left off, tossing two shutout frames to slam the door and close the 8-2 win for the Cardinals.
