TEXAS LEAGUE : Naturals rally late, take two-game lead
Posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008
SPRINGDALE — If the Naturals go on to make the playoffs, they’ll look back on Wednesday night as a major reason why.
Northwest Arkansas spotted Springfield five early runs but fought back for a 6-5 victory in front of 4, 089 fans at Arvest Ballpark. The Naturals (34-24 ) now own a two-game lead over the Cardinals (32-26 ) in the Texas League’s North Division — effectively three games, since the Naturals own the tiebreaker — and have won 21 of their past 23 games at home.
“[The players ] don’t feel like they’re ever out of a game,” Naturals Manager Brian Poldberg said. “Again tonight, we were down five in the second and it could have gotten out of hand.
“ The guys just never say die here.” With the Cardinals leading 5-4, Springfield reliever Luis Perdomo entered the game to begin the bottom of the eighth. Perdomo promptly coughed up the lead when designated hitter Cory Aldridge slugged his first pitch onto the right-field grass, tying the game.
Perdomo (2-2 ) recorded two outs before right fielder Brian McFall lined a 1-2 pitch to left for his 16 th home run of the season, giving the Naturals their first lead.
“[Perdomo ] has great arm action,” said Aldridge, who had three hits and three RBI. “With a guy like that, you’ve got to get him early. He threw me a fastball when I was really looking for a pitch away to try to drive. “ I just reacted on the pitch and the gods were looking out for me.” Northwest Arkansas starter 1 Blake Wood struggled, going 4 / 3 innings and giving up 5 runs, 3 earned, on 8 hits. Wood’s night got off to a bad start — left fielder Daryl Jones opened the game with an 11-pitch at-bat that ended with a home run — and the Naturals made a pair of errors behind him in the second inning, contributing to a three-run third. Once again, though, the Naturals’ bullpen came through. Gil-2 bert de la Vara (2-0 ) pitched 3 / 3 shutout innings for the victory, and right-hander Matt Peterson survived a scary ninth for his second save. Springfield loaded the bases with two outs against Peterson before he got Andrew Brown to hit into a game-ending fielder’s choice. “The bullpen, again, came in and did a great job for us,” Poldberg said. “If I get [regular closer Chris ] Hayes up, we lose him for three days. Peterson has been a closer — he was early [this season ] — so we just went with him. “ With all their lefties, it was a tough situation, but Peterson got through it.” Cardinals starter Adam Ottavino retired the first eight batters he faced but was less successful the second time through the Naturals’ lineup. Marc Maddox and Irving Falu opened the fourth inning with consecutive singles, and one batter later Aldridge doubled, bringing both home. Northwest Arkansas continued to chip away, scoring a run in the fifth and getting an RBI single from Mario Lisson in the sixth to draw within 5-4.
“We’ve kind of been in a little funk lately, and I think we’re trying to get too many perfect pitches as opposed to being a little more aggressive,” Aldridge said. “We let a lot of fastballs go by [early ], but a lot of times hitting is contagious. When a guy gets a big hit sometimes, it kind of sparks the other guys.” McFall started a 9-4-2 relay to gun down Springfield third baseallace at home plate in the eighth inning. Wallace, the St. Louis Cardinals’ first-round selection in the 2008 MLB draft, played in his first game with Springfield after being promoted Quad Cities. Wallace went 1 for 4 and hit into inning-ending double plays in the first and fifth innings.
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