Arozarena blasts walk-off homer, Cardinals win 5-4 in front of 3rd straight sellout
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Randy Arozarena blasted a walk-off home run that got every Cardinals fan in Cardsville, the tall and the small, cheering on Christmas in July without any presents at all.The Naturals puzzled and puzzled until their puzzlers were sore but couldn't stop Christmas from coming. It came. Somehow
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --
The Naturals puzzled and puzzled until their puzzlers were sore but couldn't stop Christmas from coming. It came. Somehow or other, it came just the same in a 5-4 Cardinals victory with a third straight sellout crowd of 6,788 fans at Hammons Field.
Arozarena's winning blast sent the sound of sleigh bells ringing around the ballpark and came with a side of a bat flip, a bowling helmet and a shower at the plate. But to get there, it took a game-tying homer two batters earlier from
Edman's equally towering dinger landed on the grass in front of the video board in center field, pulling the Cardinals even at 4-4 just minutes after a 3-3 tie turned into a 4-3 Naturals lead in the top of the ninth.
The win pulled the Cardinals within 6.5 games of the first-place Drillers with a key three-game series against Tulsa starting Monday in Springfield.
SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS
The Cardinals finished Christmas in July weekend with back-to-back comeback wins after battling back from trailing 6-1 on Saturday night and 4-3 in the ninth tonight.
Two innings later, Springfield snagged the lead. The Cardinals loaded the bases without an out and Arozarena answered with a bloop single that landed on the right-field line, scoring
That lead grew to 3-1 two innings later when
Northwest Arkansas went ahead 4-3 when
DEBUT TWO
Cardinals starter
Newly acquired reliever
UP NEXT
The Cardinals open a three-game home series with the Drillers on Monday with first pitch set for 6:30pm.