Cardinals Beat Naturals 7-1
Published on August 1, 2011 under Texas League (TL1)
Springfield Cardinals News Release
Springfield, MO - On a toasty night at Hammons Field, with a game time temperature of 101, the Springfield Cardinals were in high spirits looking to take game four and end the series three and one against the NW Arkansas Naturals.
Out on the rubber for the Naturals was righty Jake Odorizzi. Odorizzi looked to improve his winning record to 4-0 on a hot Monday night. Stepping out of rotation for the Redbirds was lefty John Gast. A Florida State alum, Gast, with a 4.26 ERA, hoped to improve his game to 2-0 at home, 3-1 on the season.
After a quick two innings for Odorizzi and the Naturals, the bottom of the third proved to be a different story as Daryl Jones made his way around the diamond on a fly ball over the right field wall to give the Cardinals the first lead of the night, 1-0. With no outs and nobody on, Odorizzi went back to work on the mound retiring the next three batters in order to end the inning.
Northwest Arkansas brought the tying run across the plate in the top of the fourth with two outs. Jamie Romak started the inning with a walk from Gast. Francis followed with a pop up to second, bringing Anthony Seratelli to the plate with one out. He would reach first on a fielder's choice by second baseman Eric Duncan who tagged Romak on his way to second. Rey Navarro singled on a line drive to center to place runners at the corners for Mario Lisson. Lisson delivered on a 1-0 count with a single to left to knot the score at one a piece.
The Birds struck again in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for the second time of the night. Greedy base running and a fly ball to right put the Cardinals one out away from the seventh, but a ground ball single to right from Matt Adams started the offensive blast for Springfield. Aaron Luna drew a walk followed by a single from Zack Cox that plated Adams and moved runners into scoring position for a 2-1 lead. That would be the end of the night for Jake Odorizzi who went five and two-thirds innings allowing four runs on four hits, four walks and two strike-outs. Reliever Brendan Lafferty stepped to the mound to face lefty Charlie Cutler. Culter reached on a fielding error as Luna crossed home plate and Cox advanced to third for a 3-1 Cardinals lead. Back-to-back singles plated Cox to give the Birds a three run lead with Cutler on second and Jones at first for Eric Duncan. Looking at a 3-1 count, Duncan delivered to put Springfield up by six with a three run homer over the right field wall before the end of the sixth, 7-1 Redbirds.
Scott Schneider replaced Gast in the top of the seventh. Gast ended his evening after six innings with one run on six hits, three walks and six strike outs. Schneider, Samuel and Freeman would each throw a scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively for a three out of four game series win and a 7-1 final score.
Springfield will hit the road for seven days to take on the Arkansas Travelers and Tulsa Drillers. The Cardinals will send left hander Nick Additon to the mound against lefty Andrew Taylor of the Travs Tuesday night at 7:10pm.
The Cardinals will return to Hammons Field Wednesday August 10th for a six game homestand beginning with the San Antonio Missions at 7:07pm. Great tickets are still available by visiting the Hammons Field Ticket Office, online at springfieldcardinals.com or by calling (417) 863-2143.
Texas League Stories from August 1, 2011
- Cardinals Beat Naturals 7-1 - Springfield Cardinals
- Travs Win in Trout's Return - Arkansas Travelers
- Costly Error Dooms Odorizzi, Naturals - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Missions Win 2-1 On Balk In Extra Innings - San Antonio Missions
- Travs Take Series Finale Against Drillers 3-1 - Tulsa Drillers
- Missions Edge Frisco with Game-Winning Balk - Frisco RoughRiders
- Blake Tekotte Promoted To San Diego - San Antonio Missions
- Game Notes, August 1 - Corpus Christi at Midland - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Travs Get New Manager, Make Moves - Arkansas Travelers
- Trout Back with Travs - Arkansas Travelers
- World-Class Triathlon Coming to Corpus Christi - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Naturals Keep Things Cool at Arvest Ballpark - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Rob Musgrave Promoted To Triple-A, Solis Re-Joins Missions - San Antonio Missions
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