Mulder, Cards Top Drillers Again

Only five days after getting blanked by Mark Mulder in a rehab appearance for the Springfield Cardinals, the Tulsa Drillers got a second chance at the St. Louis Cardinals lefthander Friday night. In round two, the offensive production was better but the end result was the same, a loss for the Drillers. Springfield rallied from a 3-0 deficit to claim a 12-4 victory at Drillers Stadium, ending Tulsa's two-game winning streak.

Mulder, the winner of 103 career major league games, struggled with his command in the first inning. The first five Tulsa batters in the bottom of the first reached on three walks and two singles. The big hit was a two-run base hit by Daniel Carte. Mulder then retired Jeff Dragicevich on strikes before allowing another hit to Duke Sardinha. He escaped the first by getting Neil Wilson and Alan Johnson to keep the Drillers lead at 3-0.

After the tough first inning, Mulder settled in. He blanked Tulsa over the next three innings before surrendering an impressive opposite field homer to Matt Miller.

Overall, Mulder surrendered six hits and four runs in five innings of work. He walked four hitters and struck out five.

Down three runs, the Cardinals bats began to come to life in the 3rd inning with RBI singles from first baseman Mark Hamilton and second baseman Jose Martinez that cut the lead to one.

Springfield took the lead with a four-run fourth. Mark helped his own cause with an RBI double off the left-center field wall. An error and three more hits followed, giving the Cards a 6-3 lead.

After Miller's homer in the fifth, the score remained 6-4 until Springfield blew the game open in the final two innings. After scoring a single run in the eighth, the Cards plated five more in the ninth inning. The big blow was a three-run home run off the bat of Allen Craig. The homer completed a big night for the third baseman. He finished 4-4 with four runs batted in and two runs scored.

Springfield totaled 17 hits in the game against three different Tulsa pitchers.

Miller's fifth inning homer extended his hitting streak to 10 straight games.

A strange play occurred in the top of the eighth inning. With the score 6-4, the Cards had runners at first and second with two outs when Drillers reliever Jonathan George hit Craig on an 0-2 count and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Kellen Levy. It was the second time in the game that Craig was hit with a pitch.

The Drillers and Cards will play game two of their four-game series Saturday night. Brandon Hynick (1-1, 7.52 ERA) will pitch for Tulsa against Adam Daniels (0-1, 4.50 ERA) of Springfield. First pitch at Drillers Stadium will be at 6:35PM with a Fireworks display following the game.