photo: Austin Warner (Allison Rhoades/Peoria Chiefs)
As the St. Louis Cardinals system went 4-1 on Thursday, standouts included Austin Warner and Andy Young of Palm Beach and Peoria’s Julio Rodriguez.
Results from the games played Thursday, April 26th.
Round Rock 6 at Memphis 1 (seven innings) – Game 1
Memphis 2, Round Rock 1 (seven innings) – Game 2
Memphis split a pair with Round Rock, falling in the opener, 6-1, but bouncing back to claim the finale, 2-1. The second game of the twin bill made up Wednesday’s rainout. The Redbirds (15-5) have three games remaining with the Express.
Each team scored in the initial stanza of Game 1, but the visitors scored twice in the third and three more times in the sixth. Four of the six tallies were unearned due to fielding miscues by second baseman Max Schrock and third baseman Patrick Wisdom.
Daniel Poncedeleon suffered his second loss in three decisions, yielding all six runs on nine hits, three walks and a hit batsman in 5 2/3. Arturo Reyes inherited a bases-loaded jam and could not record the sixth’s final out before allowing two of three to touch home. Reyes pitched a clean seventh.
The initial focus of Game 2 was the first rehab appearance of St. Louis’ San Tuivailala. The right-hander got in his work immediately, tossing a clean first. Tuivailala K’d his first batter swinging the recorded a fly out to center. A line drive single to left ensued, but a 6-4 force out both finished the frame and the pitcher’s night. The California native threw 10 of his 15 pitches for strikes.
Kevin Herget (W, 1-1) took over from there, holding his opponents to a run on two hits over four. The sole tally resulted from a long ball. Herget struck out four. Preston Guilmet finished the final two frames with only one base-on-balls permitted for his fifth save.
Memphis pushed across single tallies in the second and fourth, both via a sac flies by Wisdom. Adolis Garcia doubled and scored the tying run, his only hit in three at bats while Luke Voit accounted for the second tally. Voit opened with a single, advancing to third on Yairo Munoz’ single and came home on Wisdom’s fly out to center. Voit added a double in three at bats, the only Redbird with more than one hit.
Friday’s game: vs. Round Rock (7-13) (TEX), 7:05 pm CT, Dakota Hudson (3-0, 4.15)
Springfield 4 vs. Northwest Arkansas 3
Reliever Ronnie Williams’ Texas League debut garnered him a winning decision as the S-Cards (10-8) rallied past the Naturals, 4-3, for a three-game sweep. Springfield’s win moves them into a three-way tie for first with Arkansas (SEA) and Tulsa (LAD).
Williams’ first taste of Double-A included plenty of action. The 22-year-old entered the sixth in a jam – a run already across, runners at the corners and two gone. A passed ball on Andrew Knizner, one of two charged to him on the night, moved both runners into scoring position but Williams squashed the threat with a 4-3 groundball out. The right-hander retired seven of eight batters faced, allowing one single. Hector Mendoza worked around a one-out triple for his second save.
Both hurlers pitched in relief of Conner Greene, who went the first 5 2/3. Greene was charged with all three scores on four hits and three free passes.
Held by the Naturals’ starter to a single run over six, Springfield’s bats doubled that output against him the next frame. Center fielder Lane Thomas provided what proved to be the winning margin when he launched his sixth home run of 2018 in the eighth.
Thomas was the only Springfield player with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with the aforementioned bomb and two runs scored. Five S-Cards had one hit apiece, including Victor Roache and Edmundo Sosa, who both singled once in three at bats and crossed home once.
Friday’s game: vs. co-leader Arkansas (10-8), 7:10 pm CT, Mike O’Reilly (league debut)
Palm Beach (11-10) scored in four of their first five innings to fly past the Mets, 6-2, the first of four weekend games at Port St. Lucie.
The Beach Birds banged out 11 hits, paced by tri-Player of the Day Andy Young. The second baseman accounted for four of his squad’s six tallies, going 3-for-5 with two doubles, a run scored and three driven in. Three players had two hits each – Stefan Trosclair, Evan Mendoza and Jose Godoy. The latter went yard for the first time this season, a two-run shot in the fourth that made the score 5-2.
Right fielder Dylan Carlson’s second game in the Florida State League was a mixed bag. On the positive side, the 19-year-old had his first hit (a seventh-inning single), first run scored (reaching on a force ahead of Godoy’s bomb) and first outfield assist (a first-inning play at the plate that ended the frame). The negative side was his first error, a fielding miscue that generated no further damage and his other three at bats, in which he did not produce. Carlson is The Cardinal Nation’s 20th-ranked prospect.
After a bit of a shaky start, Austin Warner, tri-Player of the Day, settled down to pitch eight impressive innings. Four of the seven hits and the sole walk permitted by the lefty occurred in the Mets’ two-run first. At one point, Warner retired 10 consecutive batters, striking out nine.
Friday’s game: at St. Lucie (9-11) (NYM), 6:30 pm ET, Ian Oxnevad (1-2, 4.50)
After three straight one-run losses, the Peoria Chiefs fired on all cylinders Thursday night. Two five-run innings, coupled with a strong starting pitching performance, vaulted the Chiefs over the Snappers, 12-2. The win enabled Peoria (9-9) to prevent a four-game sweep at Beloit (8-7) (OAK).
Those two big innings bookended the game’s scoring, coming in the first and seventh. Peoria exploded for 14 hits, with all nine starters gathering at least one. Catcher Julio Rodriguez, our third Player of the Day, blasted two home runs accounting for three tallies. In total, the 20-year old had three hits in five at bats with four RBI.
Yariel Gonzalez, Elehuris Montero and Jonatan Machado each had two hits. Machado produced a line that may have won him the Player of the Day nod on other days, adding a double to his single with a walk, two runs scored and a whopping five knocked in. Nick Plummer went yard with the bases clean, his only hit in five at bats.
Starter Evan Guillory (W, 2-1) composed a very strong effort for the Chiefs, holding his foes to two runs on seven hits over eight innings. The righty fanned five and did not issue a free pass. Cory Malcom faced the minimum in the ninth, striking out two.
Friday’s game: at Wisconsin (5-15) (MIL), 6:35 pm CT, Alvaro Seijas (0-1, 2.87)
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