The Farm Goes 3-1 on Friday Night, Powered by Late Homers
Cardinal Chronicle
Morning Farm Report
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
Cardinals Affiliates Go 3-1 Friday, Powered by Late Homers Including a Rehab Blast
The St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system turned in a strong Friday night, going 3-1 across the four full-season affiliates, with Memphis, Springfield and Peoria all landing in the win column while Palm Beach dropped a 10-inning game in Jupiter.
It was a night built around the long ball. Memphis used back-to-back eighth-inning homers to snap a skid. Peoria hit four solo shots in a road win. Springfield got a milestone blast from one of the organization’s fastest-rising prospects. And Palm Beach, even in defeat, saw Lars Nootbaar homer in his first rehab at-bat of the season.
That will play.
Memphis Redbirds
Memphis 7, Jacksonville 5
Memphis: 26-15, T-1st, International League West
The Memphis Redbirds needed a jolt, and they got one in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Ramon Mendoza led off the inning with a solo home run, his fourth of the season, giving Memphis the lead. One pitch later, pinch hitter Joshua Báez followed with a home run of his own, turning a tight game into a 7-5 Redbirds win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Friday night at AutoZone Park.
The victory snapped Memphis’ longest losing streak of the season and kept the Redbirds tied atop the International League standings.
Mendoza led the offense, going 2-for-3 with a double, home run, two RBIs and three runs scored. Bligh Madris also delivered a big swing, going 1-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs before Báez came off the bench and added another late-game jolt.
Starter Pete Hansen worked through some defensive traffic, allowing three runs on four hits over his outing while walking two and striking out six. The left-hander had to pitch around three Memphis errors but managed to keep the damage from getting away from him.
Skylar Hales earned the win with a perfect eighth inning, and Ryan Fernandez picked up his first save with a quick six-pitch ninth.
Old School Take: Memphis needed a win more than it needed style points. They got both. Mendoza gave them the big swing, Báez added the hammer, and the bullpen finished the job.
Springfield Cardinals
Springfield 7, Tulsa 4
Springfield: 16-21, 5th Place, 6.0 GB, Texas League North
The Springfield Cardinals kept their momentum rolling Friday night with a 7-4 win over the Tulsa Drillers at ONEOK Field, continuing what has quietly become one of the better stretches of the season for the Double-A club.
The big headline belonged to Rainiel Rodriguez.
The 19-year-old catcher, recently promoted from Peoria to Springfield, launched his first Double-A home run, a two-run shot to right-center field. For a young catcher making the jump from High-A to Double-A, that is no small thing. Double-A is where pitchers start finding holes, changing speeds with purpose, and forcing young hitters to prove they can adjust.
Rodriguez has not looked overwhelmed. Not yet.
Springfield also got production throughout the lineup, with Jon Jon Gazdar scoring on a Ryan Campos fielder’s choice and Noah Mendlinger driving in a run with a sacrifice fly. Trey Paige, Zach Levenson and Travis Honeyman were also involved in key run-scoring traffic as the Cardinals kept pressure on Tulsa throughout the night.
On the mound, Liam Doyle gave Springfield a strong start and struck out seven, continuing the development path around his power fastball and growing secondary mix. The final line carried some traffic, but the strikeout ability showed up again, and that remains the carrying tool.
Old School Take: Rodriguez’s first Double-A homer is the kind of moment you circle. Not because one swing makes a player, but because it shows the bat can travel. The jump from Peoria to Springfield is a grown-man test, and he has already put one over the wall.
Peoria Chiefs
Peoria 5, Beloit 2
Peoria: 16-20, 5th Place, 4.5 GB, Midwest League West
The Peoria Chiefs put on a power show Friday night, using four solo home runs to beat the Beloit Sky Carp 5-2 and even the series at two games apiece.
Won-Bin Cho opened the game with a first-pitch home run, continuing his recent surge. Cho has now homered in four of his last six games, and when a player starts leaving the yard that often, folks around the organization tend to look up from their coffee.
Two batters later, Jalin Flores added another solo shot to center field, giving Peoria a quick 2-0 lead before Beloit had much chance to settle in.
The power did not stop there. Tre Richardson III homered in the third inning, his second long ball in as many games, and Jack Gurevitch added his first High-A home run in the ninth to stretch the lead.
Flores also added an RBI single in the eighth, giving him a strong all-around offensive night.
Tanner Franklin gave Peoria exactly what it needed on the mound. The right-hander worked a season-high 4.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out five. It marked his second scoreless start in his last three outings and continued a positive trend for one of the arms starting to draw more attention in the system.
D.J. Carpenter earned the win, Jawilme Ramirez worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, and Bobby Olsen closed it with a perfect ninth for his second save.
Old School Take: Four solo homers will get the headline, but Franklin’s outing was the foundation. He set the tone, kept Beloit quiet, and let the bats do the rest.
Palm Beach Cardinals
Daytona 6, Palm Beach 5 — 10 innings
Palm Beach: 20-17, Florida State League East
Palm Beach had the most memorable swing of the night, even though the Cardinals came up short in a 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Daytona Tortugas at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Lars Nootbaar, making his first minor league rehab appearance of the season following offseason heel surgery, homered in his first at-bat. The opposite-field solo shot tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning and gave Cardinals fans exactly the kind of first sign they wanted to see.
Palm Beach fell behind 5-1 after Daytona scored four runs in the fourth inning, but the Cardinals battled back. Chase Heath reached on an error, Yordalin Peña singled, and Alex Birge drove in two runs with a double to center field. Trevor Haskins followed with a sacrifice fly, trimming the deficit to 5-4.
The bullpen then gave Palm Beach a chance. Hunter Kublick struck out three over 1.1 scoreless innings. José Davila, pitching on a rehab assignment, got two outs before running into trouble, and Dylan Driessen escaped the jam before retiring seven straight hitters over the next two innings.
Peña tied the game in the eighth with his second home run of the season, a solo shot to center field. Daytona reclaimed the lead in the 10th on a sacrifice fly, and Palm Beach could not answer in the bottom half.
Peña finished with a strong night at the plate, and Birge delivered the game’s biggest run-producing swing for Palm Beach.
Old School Take: The loss stings, but the bigger story was Nootbaar getting back on the field and immediately showing game power. That is the first box checked. Now comes the steady work of stacking at-bats and proving the legs can answer the bell.
Cardinal Chronicle Player of the Day
Rainiel Rodriguez, C, Springfield
Rainiel Rodriguez gets the nod after hitting his first Double-A home run, a two-run shot for Springfield in a 7-4 win at Tulsa.
At 19 years old, Rodriguez is playing against older, more advanced competition, and Double-A has a way of exposing players who are not ready. So far, he has not blinked. The first Double-A homer is more than a box score note. It is a marker in the development road.
The Cardinals challenged him with an aggressive promotion. He answered Friday night with a grown-up swing.
Cardinal Chronicle Pitcher of the Day
Tanner Franklin, RHP, Peoria
Tanner Franklin earns Pitcher of the Day honors after throwing 4.1 scoreless innings in Peoria’s 5-2 win over Beloit.
Franklin allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five in his longest outing of the season. It was his second scoreless start in his last three appearances, and he continues to build the kind of consistency that gets a pitcher noticed.
The Chiefs had the home runs, but Franklin gave them the platform to win the game.
The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
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