photo: Evan Guillory (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The St. Louis Cardinals system went 2-3 on Tuesday as Palm Beach split a twin-bill and Peoria kept rolling behind lots of offense and a strong start by Player of the Day Evan Guillory.
Results from the games played Tuesday, May 15th.
The Redbirds (23-17) fell short in their quest for a split of their four-game set, falling to the Sounds in the series’ finale, 7-4. Memphis is 1-5 in its last six with its division lead down to two games over Nashville and 2.5 ahead of New Orleans.
Nashville (20-18) teed off on Memphis pitchers to the tune of 12 hits. Starter Austin Gomber was touched for four runs on eight hits, two of them solo bombs, through five innings, absorbing his third loss in five decisions. Arturo Reyes and Andrew Morales both tossed two-inning stints, Reyes yielding two tallies and Morales one unearned score.
Held scoreless through six, the home team put a four spot on the board the next frame. Patrick Wisdom gathered a third of his team’s nine hits, singling three times in four at bats with a run scored and his fourth stolen base of 2018. Tyler O’Neill went 1-for-3 with a walk and crossed home once. His steal of third base was his first swiped bag of the season.
Wednesday’s game: Off
The S-Cards rallied from a six-run deficit only to suffer an 8-7 walk-off road loss to the Drillers. Springfield (19-18) has lost the first two of four games at Tulsa, the latter defeat knocking the S-Cards out of first.
Starter Chris Ellis’ pitching dug his team a large hole, as the righty permitted seven runs on seven hits and three walks through 4 1/3. Three of the seven hits were home runs accounting for five tallies. Ellis fanned five.
But the visitors played a bit of long ball themselves. In his first start since returning to the team, right fielder Granden Goetzman went yard twice. His third-inning solo shot got his team on the board and a three-run blast knotted the score at seven all in the ninth. Randy Arozarena added a sixth-inning home run with two aboard, his only hit in four at bats. Chris Chinea joined Goetzman by going 2-for-4, the first baseman scoring once.
Back on the mound, Landon Beck finished the fifth, allowing one of three inherited runners to cross home. But Jacob Evans delivered a strong effort, retiring nine of 10 batters faced over three scoreless frames.
Unfortunately, Yeison Medina did not secure an out from any of his four batters in the ninth. The righty gave up three hits and was bitten by his own fielding error that eventually allowed the unearned tally to score that sealed the defeat.
Wednesday’s game: at Tulsa (20-17) (LAD), 11:05 am CT, Ryan Helsley (2-2, 5.40)
Palm Beach 2 at Clearwater 1 (7) – Game 1
Palm Beach 10 at Clearwater 11 (7) – Game 2
Palm Beach (22-14) split a pair of totally divergent road contests, claiming the low-scoring opener, 2-1, but falling in the high-scoring finale, 11-10. The twin bill made up for Monday’s rain out. Two games remain in the road series.
A pair of pitchers named Austin shared the glory of the opening victory. Austin Warner tossed his fourth consecutive quality start, limiting the Threshers to a run on seven hits over 6 1/3. The southpaw struck out six.
Warner handed the ball off to Austin Sexton with two on and one gone in the seventh and Sexton came through, notching two swinging K’s for his third save. It is the fourth time in five appearances that Sexton has not been scored upon this season.
The Beach Birds’ two runs were compliments of a Juan Yepez’ solo bomb, his first since his promotion from Peoria and a two-out double by Shane Billings that knocked in Evan Mendoza (single). Billings added a single to his double in three at bats while four PB-Cards had one hit each.
Things did not go nearly as well in the nightcap. The offense built a 10-3 lead midway through five only to watch their bullpen hand the game over to their hosts.
Jesus Cruz was the first of five Palm Beach relievers to take the mound. All three of the runs charged to Cruz in 2 2/3 resulted from two long balls. Jason Zgardowski pitched the next 2 1/3, yielding a run on four hits.
But the main damage came with Colton Thomson, Will Latcham and Jacob Patterson on the bump. Thomson and Latcham each retired two batters, giving up two and four runs respectively, although the latter did strand all three inherited runners. Patterson (BS, 1) (L, 2-1) yielded the decisive tally in Clearwater’s five-run seventh, capping a dismal effort by the Palm Beach bullpen.
The visitors banged out 13 hits, scoring eight times in the first two innings. Third baseman Evan Mendoza was a perfect 4-for-4 out of the three hole, scoring three times and driving in one. Johan Mieses, Brian O’Keefe and Jose Martinez had two hits apiece, Mieses and O’Keefe in four and Martinez in three at bats.
Wednesday’s game: at Clearwater (16-22) (PHI), 10:30 am ET, Ian Oxnevad (2-3, 4.13)
Big offensive efforts by J.R. Davis and Yariel Gonzalez led the Chiefs to a 13-1 pounding of the LumberKings. Peoria’s (19-16) sixth straight win includes the first two games of the four-game series and moves them to within a half game of first-place Clinton in the Western Division.
Making his 2018 debut and acting as the team’s designated hitter, Davis accounted for five tallies, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and four driven in. The 23-year-old was not quite as effective on the base paths, however, being caught stealing second once and picked off first.
Davis’ results were matched by Gonzalez, who took part in five runs as well. The first baseman and number three hitter singled three times in five at bats, touched home three times and knocked in two.
The final Chief with a multi-hit performance was catcher Dennis Ortega, who launched a two-run blast, one of his two hits in four at bats. Ortega crossed home three times and worked a free pass. Right fielder Matt Fiedler was hitless in three at bats in his 2018 Peoria debut but garnered his first RBI on a sac fly.
Starter Evan Guillory (W, 4-2) bounced back from a sub-par outing at Bowling Green by tossing six strong frames of five-hit, one-run ball. The Louisiana native issued one free pass with three K’s, three ground- and three fly- ball outs. Kodi Whitley, Fabian Blanco and Thomas St. Clair each pitched a run-free inning.
Wednesday’s game: vs. Clinton (19-15) (SEA), 11:00 am CT, Alvaro Seijas (1-2, 5.08)
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