McKinney and Cards shut out Travs, 5-0

North Little Rock, AR - In just his second Double-A start, LHP Ian McKinney tossed six scoreless innings to help lead the 1st-Half North Division Champion Springfield Cardinals to the 5-0 shutout win against the Arkansas Travelers before 9,545 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park on Friday night.

The Cardinals (31-36, 72-65) took the early lead in the top of the second against RHP Jordan Kipper (L, 12-7). Back-to-back base hits by 1B Luke Voit and DH Jonathan Rodriguez opened the inning, before they moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt from 2B Jacob Wilson. SS Alex Mejia then bounced a grounder to first that was fielded by 1B Alex Yarbrough, who fired home and retired Voit trying to score from third. The fielder's choice put runners at the corners with two away for RF Blake Drake. Drake promptly sliced an RBI single through the right side, bringing in Rodriguez for the 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals added to the advantage in the top of the third. LF Vaughn Bryan singled to start the stanza, followed by a free pass from CF Harrison Bader. After 3B Paul DeJong singled to load the bases with no outs, Bryan darted home on a double play ball from Voit. With DeJong left at second base, Rodriguez worked a two-out walk to keep the inning alive. Wilson came through with a two-out RBI double to left field, scoring DeJong to make it a 3-0 Cardinals lead.

McKinney (W, 1-0) continued to blank the Travelers (34-33, 66-71) through the bottom of the third and fourth, before Springfield further stretched the lead in the top of the fifth. DeJong and Voit once again knocked consecutive singles to start the stanza, followed by an RBI base hit from Rodriguez to bring home DeJong and make it 4-0.

Springfield kept swinging away in the top of the sixth, striking with two outs. After a pair of groundouts started the inning, Bryan extended the frame with a two-out walk. He then stole second base, before taking third on a wild pitch. With Bryan just ninety feet away, Bader placed a two-out RBI infield single inside the third base line, scoring Bryan to increase the Cardinals advantage to 5-0.

McKinney kept the Travelers at bay through his final scoreless frame in the bottom of the sixth, finishing the dominant performance with no runs on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

RHP Rowan Wick picked up right where McKinney left off, retiring six in a row through two perfect relief innings in the seventh and eighth. Former Evangel University star, RHP Blake McKnight, took over for the bottom of the ninth and worked around a walk and a single, posting a scoreless final frame to close the 5-0 shutout win for Springfield.

Click here for the complete box score from Friday's game.

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The Cardinals continue the final road trip of the Regular Season on Saturday at 7:05pm in Tulsa. 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.

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