St. Louis Cardinals Minor League Notebook – September 22, 2025

Pete Hansen (P.J. Maigi/Springfield Cardinals)

The St. Louis Cardinals minor league system was 1-1 on Sunday. The Cardinal Nation’s Player of the Day, Springfield’s Pete Hansen, pitched five innings of one-run ball in his Double-A playoff debut. Other standouts include Matt Lloyd, Mike Antico, Aaron Wilkerson, JJ Wetherholt, and Jeremy Rivas.

Results for games played on Sunday, September 21.

Memphis Redbirds 8, St. Paul Saints 3

 The Triple-A Memphis Redbirds bested the St. Paul Saints at AutoZone Park and concluded their 2025 season with a series win on Sunday.

Aaron Wilkerson started for Memphis. The right-hander pitched five innings and allowed one run on two hits, one walk, and four strikeouts. Wilkerson earned his seventh win of the year.

Aaron Wilkerson

Left-hander Oddanier Mosqueda tossed a scoreless sixth inning in relief of Wilkerson. Skylar Hales yielded a run over two innings of work. Lefty Nick Raquet gave up a run in the ninth, but held on to finish the game.

The Redbirds’ bats were hot early in a four-run bottom of the first inning.

JJ Wetherholt led-off the inning with a single. César Prieto legged out a bunt single to put two runners on base. Prieto and Wetherholt advanced to second and third, respectively, on a Matt Koperniak groundout. Blaze Jordan lined the third single of the frame to bring Wetherholt and Prieto home and put Memphis in front 2-0.

Blaze Jordan

Jordan stole second base and scored on Matt Lloyd’s eighth home run of the season, a two-run blast to double the lead to 4-0.

Matt Lloyd

The Saints scored a run in the top of the second, but the Redbirds took the run back in the home half of the frame.

Michael Siani was hit by a pitch and swiped second base. Siani swiped third base following a strikeout. Wetherholt reached first base on a fielder’s choice, with Siani out at home on the play. Prieto hit a single to move Wetherholt to second. Koperniak lined a single to plate Wetherholt and regain the Redbirds’ four-run lead at 5-1.

Matt Koperniak

Memphis added a run in the fourth inning.

Wetherholt crushed his 10th Triple-A home run, a solo shot, to extend the lead to 6-1.

JJ Wetherholt

St. Paul grabbed a run in the seventh. Memphis responded with a two-run eighth.

With two outs, Lloyd drew a walk and came home on Mike Antico’s seventh home run of 2025, the second two-run blast of the game, for an 8-2 Memphis lead.

Mike Antico

Memphis flexed their muscles with three home runs to secure their 80th win in the season finale.

The Redbirds scored eight runs on nine hits. Wetherholt was 2-for-3, including a home run and three runs scored. Lloyd walked, scored twice, and hit a home run for two RBI. Antico drove in two runs with a home run. Jordan singled, scored a run, and tallied two RBI. Koperniak was 2-for-4 with a run driven in.

On the bases, Jordan swiped his second bag with Memphis. Siani stole two bases to increase his season total to 28.

The Redbirds did not commit an error in the contest.

Memphis concluded their 2025 season with a record of 80-68 overall, and 39-36 in the second half. They finished 10 games behind Scranton in the International League and did qualify for the postseason. The 2025 season marked the first 80-win season for the Redbirds since 2018.

Springfield Cardinals 3, Midland RockHounds 6 (Championship Series Game One)

The Double-A Springfield Cardinals lost a close contest to the Midland RockHounds at Hammons Field in the first game of the Texas League Championship Series on Sunday.

Pete Hansen started for Springfield. The left-hander threw five innings and allowed one run on three hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.

Pete Hansen

Austin Love yielded a run over one inning in relief of Hansen. Lefty Michael Watson surrendered two runs on three hits and did not record an out, taking the loss. Luis Gastelum allowed an unearned run across 1 ⅔ innings. Mason Burns gave up an unearned run and recorded the final out of the eighth inning. Tyler Bradt tossed a scoreless ninth.

Midland took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Springfield immediately tied the game in the home half of the frame.

Noah Mendlinger drew a walk. Joshua Baez lined a double to score Mendlinger and tie the game at one apiece.

Joshua Baez

The Cardinals moved ahead with a pair of runs in the second.

With two outs, Miguel Ugueto walked and Jeremy Rivas crushed a two-run home run to put Springfield in front 3-1.

Jeremy Rivas

The RockHounds plated a run in the sixth to move within a run and took a 6-3 lead after back-to-back two-run innings in the seventh and eighth. Springfield looked to rally in the bottom of the ninth, down to their final three outs.

Dakota Harris led-off the frame with a single. Ugueto grounded into a forceout, with Harris out at second and Ugueto to first. With two outs, Ugueto moved to second base on defensive indifference and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jon Jon Gazdar walked and took second base on defensive indifference to put two runners in scoring position with the tying run at the plate. The threat fell short with a strikeout to end the game.

Springfield scored three runs on seven hits. Rivas hit a home run for two RBI. Baez doubled and drove in a run. Gazdar was 2-for-4 with a walk. Harris, Ugueto, and Leonardo Bernal each singled. The lineup was 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

On the bases, Baez swiped third base for his second postseason steal.

On defense, third baseman Ramon Mendoza committed a fielding error. Second baseman Gazdar made a throwing error.

Springfield is 2-1 in the postseason, and 0-1 in the Championship Series. The Cardinals will look to win the series on the road, as Midland will host the remainder of the best-of-three series at Momentum Bank Ballpark in Midland, Texas, which resumes Tuesday.

Tuesday’s game (Championship Series Game Two): at Midland (ATH), LHP Ixan Henderson (1-0, 0.00) vs. TBA. 6:30 PM CT.

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