Jurrangelo Cijntje Delivers Six Scoreless for Springfield

The Cardinal Chronicle
Jurrangelo Cijntje Delivers Six Scoreless for Springfield
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

Jurrangelo Cijntje gave Springfield exactly what it needed Saturday night — a stopper’s start.

Cijntje earned The Cardinal Chronicle’s MiLB Pitcher of the Day honors after delivering six scoreless innings in Springfield’s 6-0 win over Arkansas at Dickey-Stephens Park. The switch-pitching right-hander allowed only two hits, struck out seven and became the first Springfield starter this season to complete six innings.

That is more than a good line in the box score. That is a tone-setter.

Springfield had been roughed up the night before in a lopsided shutout loss, and the Cardinals needed somebody to put a stop to the slide. Cijntje did exactly that, working with command, limiting traffic and keeping Arkansas from building any kind of pressure.

Facing his former team added a little extra weight to the performance, but Cijntje handled the moment well. He did not just keep Springfield in the game. He controlled it.

The Cardinals’ bullpen finished what Cijntje started, completing Springfield’s first pitching shutout of the season. But the night belonged to the starter. Six innings, two hits, no runs and seven strikeouts is the kind of outing that stands up on any night in the system.

For Springfield, it was also the kind of start the club has been waiting to see from its rotation. Length matters. Scoreless length matters even more. After a rough Friday, Cijntje gave the Cardinals a clean reset and a reason to feel good heading into the series finale.

That is what good pitchers do.

They stop losing streaks, quiet the other dugout and hand the ball off with the game in their club’s control.

On Saturday night, Jurrangelo Cijntje did all of that — and earned Pitcher of the Day honors.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports