Cardinals Minor League Notebook – September 18, 2026

photo: Springfield Cardinals Division Champs (PJ Maigi/Springfield Cardinals)

The St. Louis Cardinals minor league system was 2-0 on Thursday. The Cardinal Nation’s Players of the Day, the Springfield Cardinals, swept Tulsa in the Texas League North Division Series. Tai Peete, Cade McGee and Jesús Báez homered. Other standouts: Liam Doyle, Daniel Eagen, Jack Gurevitch, Dakota Harris, Graysen Tarlow, Trey Paige and Zach Levenson.

Results for games played on Thursday, September 17, 2026.

Memphis Redbirds 14 at Nashville Sounds 1

For the second consecutive evening, the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds clobbered the Sounds in Nashville. Thursday’s winning margin was 14-1.

Mason Molina started for Memphis. The left-hander pitched five innings and allowed one run on four hits, no walks, and two strikeouts. Molina earned his fifth Triple-A win.

Mason Molina

Jared Shuster struck out two across two shutout frames in relief of Molina. Hancel Rincon followed with a scoreless eighth. Ryan Murphy finished the game with a shutout ninth.

Nashville scored first with a run in the bottom of the second inning.

Memphis tied the game in the fourth. Dakota Harris and Graysen Tarlow singled to put runners at the corners. Trey Paige brought Harris home on a groundout.

The Redbirds took the lead with a three-run fifth inning. Ramon Mendoza hit a lead-off single. Noah Mendlinger walked. Dakota Harris grounded into a forceout, with Mendlinger out at second base. Harris swiped second base. Tarlow brought Mendoza and Harris home via a single to put the Redbirds in front 3-1.

Graysen Tarlow

Tarlow stole second base and scored on a single from Paige for a 4-1 lead.

Memphis erupted for eight runs in the sixth. Brody Moore led off the inning with a single and a steal of second base. Jimmy Crooks walked. The runners advanced on a double steal. Mendoza walked to load the bases with nobody out. Zach Levenson cleared the bases on a double to extend the lead to 7-1.

Zach Levenson

Levenson took third on a groundout and scored on a double from Harris.

Tarlow lined a single to bring home Harris for a 9-1 Memphis lead.

Paige hit a triple to score Tarlow and put the Redbirds in double digits at 10-1.

Trey Paige

In the first game of his rehab assignment from St. Louis, Everson Pereira collected a single to plate Paige and stretch the lead to 11-1.

Moore singled to put runners at the corners. Crooks deposited a single to score Moore for a 12-1 lead to cap the eight-run frame.

The Redbirds added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. Mendlinger walked and scored on a two-run home run from Harris, his second Triple-A long ball, to widen the lead to 14-1.

Dakota Harris

Memphis collected eight hits with runners in scoring position in the win. The Redbirds scored 14 runs on 20 hits. Nine of 10 Redbird hitters collected a hit. Harris was 3-for-6, including a double, a home run, three runs scored, and three RBI. Tarlow was 4-for-5, including a walk, two runs scored, and three RBI. Paige tripled, singled, scored and drove in three. Levenson collected two hits, including a double, along with a run scored and three RBI. Crooks was 3-for-4, including two walks, a run scored, and an RBI. Moore was 3-for-6 with a run scored. Rehabbing Pereira walked twice, singled, notched an RBI and scored.

Harris stole his second Triple-A bag. Tarlow swiped his first Triple-A base. Moore stole two bags to increase his Redbirds total to 16. Crooks snagged his second base of the season.

On defense, third baseman Mendoza committed a fielding error. Pitcher Molina made a pickoff error. Shortstop Moore was charged with a throwing error.

Memphis is 34-38 in the second half and 81-66 overall.

Friday’s game: at Nashville. RHP Brandt Thompson (6-5, 4.89) vs. LHP Colton Gordon (7-8, 4.11) 6:35 PM CT.

Springfield Cardinals 6 at Tulsa Drillers 4 (Division Series, game two)

The Double-A Springfield Cardinals edged the Drillers in Tulsa to win the Texas League North Division Series.

Liam Doyle started for the Cardinals. The left-hander threw 3 ⅔ innings and allowed one run on no hits, five walks, and eight strikeouts.

Christian Worley recorded the final out of the fourth inning in relief of Doyle. Daniel Eagen pitched three innings and allowed two runs with five strikeouts. Eagen was tagged with a blown save but as the offense rallied, he received the win. Nolan Sparks yielded a run over 1 ⅓ innings. With two on in the ninth, Randel Clemente secured the final two outs without allowing a run to pick up the save.

Springfield opened the scoring with a run in the top of the fourth inning. Jesús Báez crushed his second postseason home run, a solo shot.

Jesús Báez

Tulsa tied the game 1-1 in the home fourth.

Springfield regained the lead at 2-1 with a tally in the fifth. Cade McGee launched a solo home run, his second in the playoffs.

Cade McGee

The Drillers tied the game in the fifth and took a 3-2 lead in the home seventh.

The Cardinals recaptured the lead at 4-3 with two runs in the eighth. Báez drew a lead-off walk. Won-Bin Cho lined a single, with Báez scoring due to a throwing error. With two outs, Jack Gurevitch ripped a double to bring Cho home.

Jack Gurevitch

The Cardinals added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Ryan Campos singled and scored on Tai Peete’s first postseason home run, a two-run blast, to extend the lead to 6-3.

Tai Peete

Springfield pitching held Tulsa to 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

The Cardinals scored six runs on 11 hits. Peete homered for two RBI. Báez hit a home run, walked, and scored twice. McGee was 2-for-4 with a home run. Gurevitch was 2-for-4 with a double. Cho walked twice, singled, and scored.

Josiah Ragsdale and Campos were both caught stealing second base.

The Cardinals did not commit an error.

Springfield swept the best-of-three Division Series over Tulsa.

What is next: The Cardinals will play the South Division champs, either the Frisco RoughRiders or the Amarillo Sod Poodles, in the Texas League Championship Series. Game 1 of the three-game set will be in Texas on Sunday. Games 2 and 3 (if needed) will be held at Route 66 Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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