photo: Moises Castillo (Brian Walton/The Cardinal Nation)
The St. Louis Cardinals system went 1-3 on Saturday. Our Player of the Day is shortstop Moises Castillo, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI in Peoria’s win over Wisconsin. Honorable mentions go to Springfield catcher Ivan Herrera, who hit a grand slam and Palm Beach starter Nick Trogrlic-Iverson, who threw seven scoreless innings.
Results for games played Saturday, May 15.
Memphis 3 at Nashville 4 (10 innings)
Memphis (3-8) lost a heartbreaker in extra innings to Nashville on Saturday night after taking a no-hitter into the eighth. The duo of Daniel Ponce de Leon (two rehab innings) and Tommy Parsons (five innings) held the Sounds hitless through the seventh inning. In fact, neither team had scored to that point.
In the eighth, Memphis broke through and scored two runs. Evan Mendoza doubled, and Jose Rondon drove him in on a single. Austin Dean walked, John Nogowski was hit by a pitch, and Rondon scored on a balk.
Jesus Cruz relieved in the eighth, walked the first two batters, then gave up the first hit, a single. The Sounds scored three runs in the eighth off Cruz and Roel Ramirez, who took over with one out. Nashville led 3-2.
The Redbirds tied the game in the top of the ninth on a walk, two hit by pitches and a force out. The game went into extras. Memphis didn’t score in the top half of the inning, but Redbirds reliever Austin Warner surrendered the winning run in the home 10th. Warner took the loss. Cruz was charged with a blown save.
Mendoza and Rayder Ascanio each had two hits. Rondon had two RBI. Dean had an outfield assist at home plate.
Redbirds hitters fanned 15 times, including four by leadoff man Scott Hurst and were just 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Memphis pitching doled out 10 free passes.
Sunday’s game: at Nashville, Miles Mikolas RHP (0-1, 7.11) vs. TBA (NSH) 2:05 CT.
The Cardinals (1-10) lost a game that only became lopsided in the final frames. A very extensive slugfest against Springfield pitching in the eighth inning sent this game out of reach.
Springfield’s offense put up three runs in the second inning to take the initial 3-0 lead on a solo home run by Luken Baker, and a two-run double by David Vinsky. The Travelers answered with two runs in the bottom of the second off Springfield starter Domingo Robles.
The Cardinals then took a 4-2 lead in the top of the third on back to back singles by Nolan Gorman and Ivan Herrera and a sac fly by Baker. The game remained 4-2 with Robles on the mound until the bottom of the sixth. After Robles gave up a run, Griffin Roberts took over with two outs. Roberts allowed the inherited runner to score to tie the score at 4-4.
Undaunted, Springfield’s offense added four runs in the top of the seventh. Singles by Nick Dunn, Vinsky, and Delvin Perez loaded the bases. Ivan Herrera’s grand slam to left field gave Springfield the 8-4 lead. In the bottom half of the seventh, Wisconsin added three runs off Roberts and Patrick Dayton. The lead was cut to 8-7.
The flood gates opened in the bottom of the eighth. The Timber Rattlers scored 10 runs off Dayton, Jacob Patterson and second baseman Imeldo Diaz, pressed into duty as an emergency pitcher. All 10 runs were charged to Dayton and Patterson. Diaz got the final out of the inning, and the score was 17-8.
S-Cards pitching was gored for 17 hits, walked 13, hit five batters and uncorked six wild pitches. All 17 runs were earned.
Roberts and Dayton were tagged with blown saves and Dayton got the loss as well. Perez, Gorman, Herrera and Vinsky each had two hits. Herrera had four RBI and Vinsky and Baker had two RBI each.
Dunn was caught stealing and Vinsky made a fielding error.
Sunday’s game: at Arkansas, Andre Pallante RHP (0-0. 4.70) vs. Tyler Herb RHP (0-0, 0.00) 2:10
With three runs in the eighth, Peoria (5-6) defeated Wisconsin at Dozer Park on Saturday night. The Chiefs led for much of the game, but Wisconsin rallied to tie it up in the top of the eighth inning.
The Peoria offense put up five runs early – two in the first inning and three in the second – and then coasted for the next five innings. In the first, Malcom Nunez launched a two-run home run to left field to open the scoring.
In the third, Leandro Cedeno doubled, and Moises Castillo doubled to plate him. Matt Chamberlain drew a walk, and Castillo was caught stealing. With Chamberlain on base, Alec Burleson thumped a two-run home run to right field. The Chiefs led 5-0.
The Timber Rattlers put a run on the board in the third off Chiefs starter Nathaniel Heredia. Heredia was replaced by Logan Gragg with one out in the third. Gragg got the final two outs and also pitched the fourth.
The score remained 5-1 until the seventh inning when Wisconsin scored an unearned run to make it 5-2. Reliever Michael Brettell was pitching. In the eighth, with reliever Leonardo Taveras on the mound, the Timber Rattlers scored three runs to tie the game at 5-5.
The Chiefs answered in the bottom of the eighth with three to retake the lead, 8-5. The inning began with a single by Pedro Pages, who tried to stretch it to a double and was thrown out at second base. Brady Whalen and Zade Richardson followed with singles. Chandler Redmond drew a walk to load the bases. Cedeno grounded into a force out and Whalen was out at home. With the bases still juiced, Castillo hit a bases-clearing double. Neither team scored in the ninth.
Chiefs pitchers fanned 17 batters, including seven by Brettell in his three innings, during which he yielded just two hits and walked none.
Evan Sisk pitched the ninth for Peoria and earned his second save. Taveras got the win but was also tagged with a blown save. Castillo went 2-for-3 with four RBI. Burleson and Nunez each had two RBI.
Castillo stole his second base of the season and was caught stealing for the second time. Nunez had a dropped foul error, and Taveras and Pages had throwing errors.
Sunday’s game: vs. Wisconsin, Connor Lunn (0-0, 4.05)/Jack Ralston (piggyback) vs. Nick Bennett LHP (1-0, 5.68) 1:35 CT.
The Beach Birds (4-7) were edged by the Hammerheads on Saturday in a pitching duel broken up by an eighth inning rally. For seven innings, Palm Beach starter Nick Trogrlic-Iverson kept Jupiter off the board. The right hander allowed five hits, fanned three, and walked one. His offense scored only one run all evening, on a solo home run in the fourth inning by Todd Lott. For most of the game, it appeared as if the lone tally would be enough.
Enmanuel Solano relieved in the eighth inning and surrendered two Jupiter runs to give the Hammerheads the 2-1 lead. Solano was tagged with both the loss and a blown save.
The Beach Birds were unable to mount a rally in the top of the ninth. The offense had just four hits in the game, the Lott long ball, a double by Jordan Walker, and singles by L.J. Jones, and Matt Koperniak. Palm Beach hitters struck out 10 times, drew only two walks and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Jones committed a throwing error but also had an outfield assist, as did Koperniak.
Sunday’s game: at Jupiter, Levi Prater (0-1, 3.52) vs. M.D. Johnson RHP (0-1, 27.00) 11:00 am CT.
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