A dramatic comeback effort by the Arkansas Travelers fell short in a 6-4 loss to the Springfield Cardinals in Game 2 of the Texas League North Divisional Series on Thursday night before an announced crowd of 5,270 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little.
The Travelers fell behind 6-0 before finally generating some offense late in the contest. With the series now tied at 1-1, the two teams will play a decisive Game 3 today at 6:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Texas League Championship Series against the winner of the South Divisional Series between Amarillo and San Antonio, which is also tied at 1-1.
Cardinals starting pitcher Brandon Komar had a strong outing, giving up 1 run on 4 hits and striking out 9 on 114 pitches in 6 2/3 innings. The Travelers struggled to find any success at the plate until Komar was pulled from the game.
"I don't know that we need to make any major adjustments," Arkansas Manager Mike Freeman said in the postgame. "I like the way we played. Obviously, their pitcher threw the ball well and had us guessing there early."
Springfield opened the scoring in the top of the second on an RBI single from Jacob Buchberger that scored Arquimedes Gamboa. In the third, Springfield collected three hits and took advantage of a wild pitch from Travelers starting pitcher Blas Castano to take a 3-0 lead.
With runners on second and third following the wild pitch from Castano, Mike Antico hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Victor Scott II. Two batters later, Chandler Redmond drove in Noah Mendlinger on a double off the fence in left center field.
The Cardinals blew the game open in the fourth, scoring three more runs to take a commanding 6-0 lead. With two runners on and two outs in the inning, Freeman decided to go to the bullpen and replaced Castano with Rob Kaminsky. But Kaminsky was unable to get out of the jam.
After hitting Mendlinger with a pitch to load the bases, Kaminsky gave up a hard hit single to right that scored Jose Alvarez and Scott. Right fielder Alberto Rodriguez let the ball get past him and was credited with an error that allowed Mendlinger to score from first. The error was one of three committed by the Travelers.
Arkansas cut into the deficit with two runs in the seventh inninge. Connor Lunn came on for the Cardinals in relief of Komar with two outs in the seventh and the Travelers got to him immediately.
Following a walk to Logan Warmoth, Connor Hoover and Jake Anchia hit back-to-back singles that scored Kaden Polcovich and Warmoth. With the score at 6-2, Lunn finally got the third out of the seventh by getting Leo Rivas to pop out.
The Travelers continued their comeback effort in the eighth inning. Jonatan Clase opened the inning with a triple that energized the crowd. Following a Tyler Locklear strikeout, Rodriguez hit a moonshot home run to right that cut the Cardinals' lead to 6-4.
"Sometimes that happens in baseball," Freeman said. "I loved to see the fight out of the guys. I loved the at-bats late in the game. The bullpen did a nice job shutting it down there late to give us a chance. We'll come out and give our best shot [today].
"I thought our at-bats were good. Our pitching was good late and like the guys that we have lined up to go [today]. So I like our chances."
Jimmy Joyce is expected to take the mound for Arkansas on tonight, while Pine Bluff native Tink Hence will start for Springfield.
Texas League playoffs
All times Central
(Best-of-3)
NORTH DIVISION
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
TUESDAY’S GAME
Arkansas 3, Springfield 1
THURSDAY’S GAME
Springfield 6, Arkansas 4
Series tied 1-1
TODAY’S GAME
Springfield at Arkansas, 6:35 p.m.
SOUTH DIVISION
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
TUESDAY’S GAME
San Antonio 12, Amarillo 11 (10)
THURSDAY’S GAME
Amarillo 7, San Antonio 4
Series tied 1-1
TODAY’S GAME
Amarillo at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m.