Drillers Drop Heartbreaker in Playoff Opener

Springfield, MO – Tulsa and Springfield compiled the two best records in the Texas League during the 2026 regular season and two of the best records in all of Minor League Baseball. Tuesday night at Route 66 Stadium in Springfield, they battled for nine innings in Game 1 of TL’s North Division playoff series, and the Cardinals delivered the first blow in the best-of-three series.

In a game that featured seven combined homers, the Cardinals produced the last one. Jesus Baez broke a tie game with a walk off, two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Springfield a dramatic 9-7 win in the opener and a 1-0 lead in the series.

BOXSCORE

The game got off to a perfect start for the Drillers. The night’s first batter, Taylor Young, worked a full count against Springfield starting pitcher Yhoiker Fajardo before depositing a fly ball over the left-center field fence for a home run that gave Tulsa a prompt 1-0 lead.

The top of the second inning began the same way. Griffin Lockwood-Powell led off with a home run that doubled the Drillers lead.

The margin swelled to 3-0 in the fourth. With one out, Kole Myers singled off the glove of Fajardo. After Elijah Hainline struck out, Joe Vetrano hit a sharp grounder just inside the first base bag that rolled all the way into the right field corner. Myers raced home on the hit, while Vetrano settled for a RBI triple.

Tulsa starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski cruised through the first three innings, blanking the Cards on just one hit and one walk, but he ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Baez led off with a base hit, and Won-Bin Cho drew a one-out walk. Serwinowski got his sixth strikeout for the second out, bringing Jack Gurevitch to the plate. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Gurevitch lofted a high flyball down the left field line that just carried over the fence for a game-tying, three-run homer.

Serwinowski’s troubles extended into the fifth inning. His first eight pitches of the inning were out of the strike zone, putting two Redbirds on base and ending his outing.

Tulsa manager Eric Wedge called on Payton Martin from the bullpen, and the right-hander enticed Texas League batting champion Rainiel Rodriguez to hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

With two outs and runner at third, Baez grounded a single into left field that gave the Redbirds a 4-3 lead.

Springfield reliever Nolan Sparks took over for Fajardo to open the fifth inning and turned in an impressive outing, retiring all six batters he faced.

The Cardinals carried their 4-3 lead into the seventh when Elijah Hainline greeted reliever Domenic Picone with a ground single into centerfield to lead off the inning. After the hit, Vetrano struck out, and Young flied out.

With two outs and Hainline still at first base, Mike Sirota came to the plate. Sirota has recently been battling injuries and played in just 4 of Tulsa’s last 12 regular season games. He shook off any rust he might have had from the missed time by belting a drive that easily cleared the left field fence for a two-run homer that put the Drillers back in front with a 5-4 lead.

Springfield again responded. Martin retired the first batter in the bottom of the seventh before giving way to Lucas Wepf. The right-hander got a ground out before giving up consecutive singles that quickly ended his outing.

Kelvin Ramirez came on to face Baez, and after nine pitches, the count was full. When Ramirez missed the strike zone on pitch ten, Baez dropped his bat, and before running to first base, yelled demonstratively at Ramirez. On the next pitch, to Josiah Ragsdale, Ramirez sailed a fastball to the backstop for a wild pitch that allowed Tai Peete to come home to again tie the game.

The back-and-forth between the two teams continued in the eighth inning. Cards reliever Randel Clemente entered the game to begin the eighth and missed with his first four pitches to walk Gelof. Clemente recovered to work a 2-2 count on the next batter, Tulsa newcomer Chuck Davalan. On the next pitch, Davalan turned around a fastball that landed on the roof of the batting cages beyond the right field fence for a two-run homer. The impressive blast carried 428 feet with an exit velocity of 107.4 m.p.h.

The Redbirds used their second home run of the game to again tie the score in the bottom half of the eighth. Ramirez walked Cho to open the inning before giving way to Jacob Kmatz. Kmatz got a pair of strikeouts before surrendering a two-run homer to Cade McGee that leveled the score a 7-7.

Following Davalan’s impressive homer, Clemente recorded six straight strikeouts. After the sixth K ended the top of the ninth, a demonstrative Clemente fired an invisible arrow from the pitcher’s mound before stomping and dancing his way to the first-base dugout.

It was an eye-opening demonstration from a veteran pitcher, but it was as if the 24-year-old knew what was coming in the bottom of the ninth.

Carson Hobbs entered as the fifth Tulsa reliever of the game, and he retired the inning’s first batter before giving up an infield single to Rodriguez to bring Baez to the plate.

On another full count, the Springfield shortstop belted a no-doubt homer over the left field fence for a game winning, walk-off homer that set off another celebration from the Cardinals, their biggest of the night.

GAME NOTES

*It was a tough game for the Tulsa bullpen. The five relievers worked 4 1/3 innings and allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while failing to protect two different leads. Martin was the only reliever to not allow a run, working 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

*The two teams combined for 29 strikeouts in the game with Tulsa batters going down on strikes 17 times and Springfield hitters striking out 12 times.

*Baez finished with three hits, including his home run, and three RBI.

*The Drillers totaled eight hits with Sirota leading the way with two of them.

*Clemente was credited with the win. The theatrical right-hander had a 5.29 ERA during the regular season, but he logged a 1.32 ERA from June 21 through September 9.

UP NEXT

The best-of-three series will now move to Tulsa with the remainder of the set to be played at ONEOK Field. Game 2 will take place on Thursday night with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The pitching matchup will be:

Springfield – LHP Liam Doyle (7-7, 3.76 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Christian Zazueta (4-2, 3.44 ERA)