Cards Pound 16 Hits as Drillers Drop Series Opener
May 20, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Chris Newell catches a fly ball for the Tulsa Drillers
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Rich Crimi)
Tulsa, OK - The Tulsa Drillers fell victim to an offensive bombardment from the Springfield Cardinals Tuesday night, and a lot of the damage came from two players. Springfield's Nathan Church and Leonardo Bernal combined for six hits, four runs scored and five runs batted in to lead the Cards to a 7-4 victory over the Drillers at ONEOK Field.
It was the opening game of a six-game series and the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Cardinals took early control of the game by scoring a run in each of the first four innings.
Nathan Church doubled on Jared Karros' first pitch of the game and came in to score the first run on a sacrifice fly from Leonardo Bernal.
A solo home run from Jeremy Rivas in the second made it 2-0 in the second, before Church singled and scored on a double by Bernal.
Dakota Harris homered in the fourth inning to increase the lead to 4-0.
The Drillers got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of Jose Ramos. With one out, Yeiner Fernandez singled and Griffin Lockwood-Powell walked. Ramos brought them both home with a two-run double.
It remained 4-2 until the Cards added three more runs in the seventh, and it was again Bernal doing the damage. The Springfield catcher belted a three-run homer off reliever Christian Suarez.
The Drillers made things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Chris Newell singled home two runs to cut the deficit to three runs and bring the potential game-tying run to the plate in John Rhodes. Rhodes made a bid for the tying homer, but his towering drive was caught on the warning track by Church in the left field corner.
Church, who is the number 2 outfield prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system, had his second straight three-hit game, finishing 3-5 with three runs scored. He upped his season average to .354.
Bernal, who is the number 2 catching prospect in the St. Louis organization, finished the night a perfect 3-3 with the homer and five runs batted in.
The Redbirds out-hit the Drillers 16-5 in the game.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Karros worked through the early troubles and produced his longest outing of the season. The right-hander completed six full innings and was charged with 4 runs on 11 hits. Karros walked just one batter and struck out two.
*The fourth-inning single by Fernandez extended his hitting streak to six straight games.
*Damon Keith was held without a hit, ending his five-game streak.
*The 16 hits given up were one short of a season high for a Drillers opponent. Northwest Arkansas had 17 in its opening night win over Tulsa.
*The Drillers made another roster move prior to Tuesday's game. Pitcher Domingo Geronimo, who pitched in just one game for the Drillers, was transferred to High-A Great Lakes. To fill the spot, the Drillers activated pitcher Jacob Meador from the Temporarily Inactive List.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will continue their series with the Cardinals on Wednesday evening at ONEOK Field. First pitch is slated for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
SPR - RHP Max Rajcic (1-3, 4.65 ERA)
TUL - RHP Jacob Meador (0-3, 6.45 ERA)
Images from this story
 Chris Newell catches a fly ball for the Tulsa Drillers (Rich Crimi) |
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