Cards Beat Travs 7-5
Tonight, it was four dominant innings from the bullpen that allowed the Cardinals to rally and defeat the Arkansas Travelers, 7-5.
Joe Kelly (1-1, 6.50 ERA), in his fourth start as a Springfield Cardinal, set out to improve on his struggles pitching at home. In two starts, Kelly came into the game with a 9.90 ERA at Hammons Field.
The top of the first inning did nothing to reverse this trend. Seeing-eye singles got the wheels turning for the Travelers. Cardinal-killer Luis Jimenez delivered the first blow, dropping a bloop single over the head of shortstop Ryan Jackson to put Arkansas on the board. Three batters later, Matt Cusick drove in two more with a single up the middle, giving the Travelers an early 3-0 lead.
Texas League All-Star Orangel Arenas (8-5, 3.98 ERA) took the hill for Arkansas. Arenas had been particularly good against Springfield this year, including his start on May 18 in which he threw eight and two third innings of shutout baseball, giving up only four hits.
Springfield was kept at bay by Arenas through the first five outs of the game before a walk to Charlie Cutler got the Cardinals stirring. With Cutler dancing at first, designated hitter Chris Swauger battled through an eight-pitch at-bat, eventually driving in Cutler with an RBI double to the gap in right field. Through two innings, Arkansas led 3-1.
For the second time in three innings, Matt Cusick padded Arkansas' lead with a two-run RBI single in the top of the third. Kelly was the unfortunate recipient of bad luck in the inning. It appeared as if catcher Audry Perez had caught Jimenez stealing, only to be informed by the home plate umpire that Kelly's pitch had caught the jersey of Chris Pettit. The call allowed the Travelers to keep momentum, leading to Cusick's third and fourth RBI's of the game and increasing their lead to 5-1.
The Cardinals used a familiar source to get those two runs right back in the bottom half of the inning. Matt Adams hit a two-run home run over the right field wall, chipping the Travelers lead to 5-3. The homer was Adams' 24th of the year, good for second most in the Texas League.
An inning later, the Cardinals plated two more runs, tying the game at 5-5. Cutler continued his blistering hitting streak, leading off the inning with a double. Swauger followed Cutler with his second extra base hit of the game, this time an RBI triple down the right field line. With the tying run just 90 feet away, Perez grounded to second base, giving Swauger plenty of time to score.
Arenas was not nearly as dominant as he was against Springfield on May 18 in this one. The right hander notched his shortest outing of the year, just 73 pitches through four innings, giving up five earned runs in the process.
His replacement, seven footer Loek Van Mil, couldn't keep Springfield at bay. Alex Castellanos doubled to lead off the fifth inning and came around to score on Zack Cox's RBI single. Cox's 25th RBI of the season gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 6-5.
The Cardinals bullpen took over in the top of the sixth, relieving Kelly (5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K's) after 91 pitches.
Nick Greenwood and Jorge Rondon combined to successfully navigate through the sixth and the seventh before getting an insurance run of the bat of Castellanos. The right fielder's RBI single increased the Springfield lead to 7-5 heading to the eighth inning.
That would be all the runs Springfield would need, as the bullpen was fantastic, pitching four scoreless innings, allowing just three baserunners in the process. David Kopp pitched the ninth for his second save of the year. Joe Kelly was awarded with his second win.
Springfield will continue their three-game series with the Arkansas Travelers Wednesday night at 7:07pm. The Cardinals will send left hander John Gast to the mound against righty Eddie McKiernan of the Travelers. Great tickets are still available by visiting the Hammons Field Ticket Office, online at springfieldcardinals.com or by calling (417) 863-2143.
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