Cardinals Hand 'Hounds First Loss of 2010
For the RockHounds, their shot at a "perfect season" (yeah, right) came to an end in game four of the 2010 Texas League campaign, as the Springfield Cardinals took a 3-1 win Sunday at Citibank Ballpark.
The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, with the 'Hounds answering right back. Matt Sulentic opened the home half of the inning with a single and scored on Shane Peterson's hit-and-run double to deep left center.
The Cardinals then gave the RockHounds a taste of their own early-season medicine. The Springfield bullpen clamped down, allowing just one hit and one walk over the last four innings, with the Cardinals also adding an insurance run.
The 'Hounds bullpen was outstanding in the first four games, allowing a total of two runs in 17.0 innings for a 1.06 ERA.
At the "dish," first baseman Steve Kleen has been outstanding, opening the season 5-for-10 with a pair of home runs Saturday night and a league-leading seven RBI. Steve went 2-for-3 with a walk Sunday, with a pair of infield singles, but both might well have been extra-base hits. The Cardinals, to their credit, were playing third baseman Andrew Brown toward the third base line, and he twice knocked a would-be double, limiting Kleen to a single on both occasions.
The North Division turned the tables on the South, sweeping all four games Sunday, so the 'Hounds and Corpus Christi remain tied for the top spot in the v-e-r-y e-a-r-l-y going of the 2010 season.