Cardinals remain a game out of 1st despite 6-2 loss to Drillers

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Travelers did what the Cardinals needed, but the Cardinals couldn't do what they themselves needed Saturday night.

Trailing Arkansas by a game in the Texas League North with 10 games to go in the 1st Half, Springfield opened a four-game series at Hammons Field with last-place Tulsa. Down in Springdale, Arkansas, the Travelers and Naturals started a four-game set of their own, with the Naturals winning 6-2.

Springfield matched that score Saturday but did so on the losing end, falling 6-2 to Tulsa in front of 5,961 fans. The loss kept the Cardinals a game behind Arkansas in the division and allowed Northwest Arkansas to pull even with Springfield.

On the bottom of a very shallow barrel is Tulsa, with the Drillers now just three games behind the Travelers and two behind the Cardinals.

Springfield looked like it might get rolling early with Tommy Edman on third and Edmundo Sosa on first without an out in the first. Next, in his first game back in Springfield after 14 games with AAA-Memphis, Andrew Knizner put the Cardinals up 1-0 with a sacrifice fly to right.

That would account for all the Cardinals scoring until an Evan Mendoza solo shot to center in the eighth that cut into a 4-1 Drillers lead.

Springfield righty Matt Pearce tossed six strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out five. He retired his final 10 batters faced.

Whether or not it made an impact on the inning, the Drillers two runs off Pearce came the inning after Pearce took clear exception to nearly getting hit by a pitch from Drillers starter Andrew Sopko. Tulsa then tagged Pearce for four hits in the third, scoring on a Luke Raley single and off a passed ball for a 2-1 lead before Pearce became unhittable over his final three innings of work.

Tulsa extended its lead to 4-1 with a pinch-hit homer from Jacob Scavuzzo off Ian McKinney in the seventh.

The Drillers added two key insurance runs in the top of the ninth courtesy of Errol Robinson's two-run shot off Landon Beck into Homers Landing.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals and Drillers play the second game of a four-game series Sunday, with first pitch coming at 6:10 pm.

Sunday is a Hiland Dairy Ice Cream Sunday and Kids Run the Bases, where kids can receive free ice cream before the game and get to head onto the infield to run the bases after its conclusion.