Cardinals win 7th straight at home, O'Reilly shines in Double-A debut

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- With his parents at Hammons Field and friends and family watching in four different states, Mike O'Reilly tossed a gem in his Double-A debut.

And he did it in primetime under the Hammons Field lights.

The recent call-up from High-A Palm Beach all but shut down an Arkansas Travelers team that came into Friday tied with Springfield and Tulsa for first in the Texas League North.

O'Reilly left in the seventh to healthy applause from the 4,898 in attendance behind a line of four hits, two walks, two strikeouts and an unearned run over 6.1 innings in what ended as a 6-2 Cardinals win.

It was the seventh straight win at home for a Cardinals team that is now 9-1 at Hammons Field and 4-0 on the current homestand.

The Cardinals slipped to a half game back in the North despite tonight's win after Tulsa won both games of its Friday doubleheader with Northwest Arkansas.

FIREWORKS DISPLAY

The Cardinals bats pre-empted Friday's post-game Fans-on-Field Fireworks show with a trio of homers.

Thomas Spitz launched the night's first, putting the Cardinals up 2-1 when he pulled one into the Travelers bullpen with one out in the third. The homer was his first since April 15.

Two batters later, Darren Seferina put the Cardinals up 3-1 with a solo shot of his own into Homers Landing.

Three innings later, Andrew Knizner hit the Cardinals third homer of the game and his first since Opening Day on April 5 with a leadoff shot to left in the sixth that gave the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage.

Nogowski followed Knizner's homer with a single, Victor Roache followed that with a double, and then an Edmundo Sosa single made it 5-1. The four consecutive hits ended with Blake Drake, but Drake still reached and drove in Roache on a fielder's choice when Travelers catcher Joe DeCarlo couldn't handle the throw home, capping the inning at three runs and a 6-1 Springfield lead.

Earlier, the Travelers struck first with an unearned run off O'Reilly. After O'Reilly hit Adam Law with a pitch, Law stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Knizner. Law scored two batters later when Joey Curletta singled to left.

A leadoff first-inning single by Tommy Edman ended up producing what was then the tying run when Lane Thomas brought him home on a one-out groundout two batters later.

The Travelers tacked on a second run in the ninth off a Yonathan Mendoza single that scored Braden Bishop.

NOTES

Nogowski extended his hit streak to eight with a 3-for-4 night. It was his eighth multi-hit game this season … Nogowski (.400) and Knizner (.415) are now the only two batters in the Texas League batting above .400.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals and Travelers are scheduled to play Game 2 of a four-game series at 4:10 pm Saturday. Saturday is our Expedia Travel Duffle Bag giveaway (2,000 fans), ideal for showing off your Cardinals fandom on lake trips or other wanderlust-induced travel adventures.