Tulsa Drillers Blasted by Springfield Cardinals

Originally Published: Jul 22, 2010 11:45 PM CDT

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Missouri -- Two big innings led the Springfield Cardinals to a 13-4 win over the Tulsa Drillers Thursday night.

The Drillers (45-50) lost four of the five games in the road series with the Cardinals (49-46).

After a tag-out at home ended Tulsa’s threat in the top of the third, Jose Garcia homered in the first at-bat in the bottom of the third to give Springfield a 1-0 lead.

Three at-bats later with Daryl Jones on Second, Matt Carpenter tripled to right field to extend the lead to two runs. Andrew Brown and Curt Smith followed with back-to-back home runs to push the lead to 5-0. Two batters later, Thomas Pham singled with Tony Cruz on second to push Springfield’s advantage to 6-0.

Wilin Rosario hit his 16th and 17th home runs of the season against Springfield, a solo home run in the top of the fourth and a two-run shot in the sixth, but they would account for Tulsa’s only three runs of the night.

A Matt Carpenter leadoff home run in the bottom of the seventh gave the Cardinals a 7-3 lead, but control issues allowed Springfield to have yet another big inning.

In the first at-bat of the eighth, relief pitcher Craig Baker walked Adam Reifer and two at-bats later, Antonio DeJesus doubled to left field to bring him home. Jones added another RBI to his total with a single in the next at-bat to bring Jose Garcia home from third. Pete Kozma followed with another RBI single to left to bring DeJesus score and take a 10-3 lead.

Another walk would end Bakers’ outing and bring Andy Graham to the mound, but a wild pitch against the first batter he faced would bring Jones home from third. In the same at-bat, Brown hit a two-run single to left field to score Kozma and Carpenter home to give the Cardinals a 13-3 lead.

Michael Mitchell hit a solo home run for Tulsa in the second at-bat of the ninth inning, but Warren Schaeffer hit into a double play to end the game.

Nick Additon (4-6) was credited with the win after allowing just three earned runs and seven hits in his 5.1 innings pitched. Tulsa got five full innings of service from Brandon Durden (4-7) in the loss. The Drillers’ starter gave up six earned runs on 11 hits, but struck out eight.

Tulsa returns home for a seven-game home stand to try to reignite its hot streak.