Memphis Walks It Off, Palm Beach Rallies as Affiliates Split Sunday
Cardinal Chronicle
Morning Farm Report
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
Memphis Walks It Off, Palm Beach Rallies as Cardinals Affiliates Split Sunday
The St. Louis Cardinals’ full-season affiliates split the board Sunday, going 2-2 across the system.
Memphis won a low-scoring extra-inning battle over Charlotte, 2-1, with the Redbirds’ pitching staff holding the Knights to just three hits over 11 innings. Springfield had a rough night in a 10-2 loss to Arkansas, though Won-Bin Cho continued his power surge with another home run. Peoria wasted a strong start from Jacob Odle in a 4-0 loss to Wisconsin, while Palm Beach rallied from an early deficit to beat Lakeland, 5-3.
It was not a loud offensive night across the system, but there were still some strong individual performances, especially from Cho and Odle, who earn today’s Cardinal Chronicle honors.
Memphis Redbirds
Memphis 2, Charlotte 1 — 11 innings
Memphis: 52-35 overall
Memphis won the kind of game that demands patience.
The Redbirds beat the Charlotte Knights 2-1 in 11 innings Sunday afternoon at AutoZone Park, getting just enough offense and a whole lot of pitching to finish the series on a winning note.
The game stayed scoreless through five innings before Memphis broke through in the sixth. César Prieto drove in the first run of the game, giving the Redbirds a 1-0 lead. Charlotte answered with a run in the seventh, and from there the game moved into extra innings tied at one.
Memphis finally ended it in the 11th when Matt Koperniak delivered the game-winning RBI, scoring Colton Ledbetter and sending the Redbirds to the walk-off win.
The Redbirds finished with seven hits, led by Bligh Madris and Koperniak, who each had two. Thomas Saggese and Noah Mendlinger added singles, while Ledbetter scored both Memphis runs despite going 1-for-4. Prieto and Koperniak drove in the only two runs of the day.
The pitching staff was the real story.
Brycen Mautz opened with two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out three. Hancel Rincon followed with three perfect innings, striking out two. Victor Santos allowed the lone Charlotte run over two innings, but the bullpen never let the game get away.
Luis Gastelum threw a clean inning with a strikeout, Austin Love worked two scoreless innings with three strikeouts, and Ryan Murphy finished it with a scoreless 11th, striking out two.
Altogether, Memphis pitchers held Charlotte to one run on three hits over 11 innings while striking out 11.
Old School Take: That is a pitching staff win. Memphis did not light up the scoreboard, but the arms kept putting up zeroes until the offense finally found the winning run. Sometimes that is all you need.
Springfield Cardinals
Arkansas 10, Springfield 2
Springfield: 40-40 overall
Springfield had one of those nights you flush and move on from.
The Cardinals fell 10-2 to the Arkansas Travelers on Sunday night at Route 66 Stadium, as Arkansas scored early, added on in the middle innings and never let Springfield back into the game.
The Travelers scored twice in the second, twice more in the third and then broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning. Arkansas added single runs in the seventh and eighth, finishing with 10 runs on only seven hits, thanks in large part to 11 walks issued by Springfield pitching.
Won-Bin Cho provided the Cardinals’ loudest swing of the night, hitting his seventh home run of the season. Cho went 1-for-4 with a homer, one RBI and one run scored, continuing a strong power run since arriving in Double-A.
Travis Honeyman also had a strong offensive night, going 3-for-5 with a double. Deniel Ortiz added two hits, while Jesús Báez singled and walked. Rainiel Rodriguez drove in Springfield’s other run with an RBI despite going hitless.
Cooper Hjerpe started and allowed four runs over 2.1 innings, walking two and striking out four. Darlin Saladin gave Springfield 1.2 scoreless innings in relief, but the game got away from the bullpen after that. Michael Watson and D.J. Carpenter combined to allow five runs in the middle innings, and Arkansas had enough cushion from there.
Domenic Picone finished with a clean ninth, retiring the side on just five pitches.
Old School Take: Springfield had seven hits, but the pitching staff handed out 11 walks. That is a hard way to win a baseball game. Cho’s homer was the bright spot, but this one got away early and stayed away.
Peoria Chiefs
Wisconsin 4, Peoria 0
Peoria: 38-42 overall
Peoria got the pitching performance it needed from Jacob Odle.
The Chiefs just could not give him any runs.
Peoria was shut out 4-0 by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers on Sunday afternoon at Dozer Park, managing only three hits while striking out 11 times.
Odle gave the Chiefs a strong start, working 4.1 scoreless innings while allowing two hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. He threw 50 strikes on 81 pitches and kept Wisconsin off the board before handing the game to the bullpen.
Bobby Olsen followed with 1.2 scoreless innings and two strikeouts, keeping the game scoreless through six. But Wisconsin finally broke through in the seventh against Nolan Sparks, then added three more in the eighth against Dominic Freeberger to take control.
Peoria’s offense could not answer.
Cade McGee doubled, Luis Pino doubled and Josh Kross singled. That was the extent of the Chiefs’ offense. Pino also drew a walk, and Kross walked as well, but Peoria never found the big hit.
The Chiefs wasted a strong pitching effort through the first six innings, and Odle’s outing deserved better than a shutout loss attached to it.
Old School Take: Jacob Odle did his job. Four-plus scoreless innings, seven strikeouts and only two hits allowed should give a club a chance. But when the offense puts up three hits and no runs, even a good start gets stranded.
Palm Beach Cardinals
Palm Beach 5, Lakeland 3
Palm Beach: 43-38 overall
Palm Beach had to climb out of an early hole, and the Cardinals did exactly that.
After falling behind 3-0 through four innings, Palm Beach rallied for a 5-3 win over the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Sunday afternoon at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Lakeland scored twice in the third and once in the fourth, putting Palm Beach in a 3-0 deficit. The Cardinals answered in the fifth with three runs to tie the game, then added one in the sixth and one more in the eighth to finish the comeback.
Palm Beach scored five runs on just five hits, using six walks and timely situational hitting to get the job done.
Sebastian Dos Santos went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base. Chase Heath doubled and drove in a run. Trevor Haskins also drove in a run, while Brayden Smith, Matthew Miura and Alex Birge each scored. Johnfrank Salazar added a walk, and Jonathan Mejía reached twice with two walks and scored a run.
Nathan Shinn started and allowed three runs over four innings, giving up five hits and three walks while striking out three. From there, the bullpen pieced it together.
Zeke Wood struck out two in a scoreless fifth. Liam Best worked a scoreless sixth. Nelfy Ynfante and Dylan Driessen each worked around traffic, and Justin Militello closed it with a clean ninth.
Lakeland had 11 hits, but Palm Beach pitching held the Flying Tigers scoreless over the final five innings.
Old School Take: Palm Beach did not win this one with a pile of hits. The Cardinals won it by taking walks, scratching across runs and letting the bullpen shut the door. That is useful baseball.
Cardinal Chronicle Player of the Day
Won-Bin Cho, OF, Springfield
Won-Bin Cho earns Cardinal Chronicle Player of the Day honors after providing Springfield’s biggest swing in Sunday’s loss to Arkansas.
Cho went 1-for-4 with a home run, one RBI and one run scored. It was his seventh home run of the season and continued an impressive power stretch since joining Springfield.
The Cardinals did not have much to celebrate in a 10-2 loss, but Cho’s bat remains one of the better stories in the system. He has brought impact power to the Double-A lineup and continues to show that the swing can carry against better pitching.
On a quiet offensive day across the system, Cho’s home run stood out.
Cardinal Chronicle Pitcher of the Day
Jacob Odle, LHP, Peoria
Jacob Odle gets the nod as Cardinal Chronicle Pitcher of the Day after another strong outing for Peoria.
The left-hander worked 4.1 scoreless innings against Wisconsin, allowing just two hits while walking three and striking out seven. Peoria eventually lost 4-0, but Odle gave the Chiefs exactly the kind of start they needed.
He missed bats, worked through traffic and kept the Timber Rattlers off the board.
The offense never came, and the bullpen gave up the game late, but Odle’s work stood out as the best pitching performance in the Cardinals’ full-season system Sunday.
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Photo Credit: Matt Koperniak, Memphis Redbirds | MiLB