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Cardinal baseball, from the girls
Oh, the pervasiveness of the stupid NFL draft…
Let’s talk baseball instead, shall we?
Last night, the Cardinals’ AAA Redbirds of Memphis faced the local Oklahoma City Redhawks in Bricktown for the 3rd match of a 4–game series. The Redbirds struck first with an Oscar Taveras triple, scoring Shane Robinson and then Taveras scored on a wild pitch. However, the lead was short-lived as Memphis’ starting pitcher, Scott McGregor had a rather messy outing, giving up 5 runs in just the first 2 innings, leaving Memphis with a differential their bats simply could not overcome. Hard-throwing Memphis pitcher Jose Alamarante entered the game with two outs in the 2nd inning, pitched a 3-up, 3-down third inning and then gave up a double and a homerun in the 4th inning to give OKC a 2-7 lead.
A spark of hope was ignited at the top of the 5th when Kolten Wong hit a lead-off single, but Shane Robinson followed with a pop out and Oscar Taveras then flew out to CF. Kolten Wong bit back and stole second, with Stephen Piscotty’s rbi single then scoring the speedy Wong (Memphis 3, OKC 7). Piscotty, not to be outdone, followed up his single by stealing second and then got a bonus bag after a throwing error by OKC’s first baseman, Jon Singleton. However Scott Mooore (walked in the 1st, singled in the 4th) struck out to end the inning and strand Piscotty at third base.
Submarine pitcher Heath Wyatt took the mound for the bottom of the 5th and faced just three batters – striking out two and inducing a pop out to Scott Moore at first. In the 6th inning, our old pal Pete Kozma smacked a double on a line drive to left field, but the Redbirds couldn’t bring him home. Wyatt returned with his mesmerizing sidearm throw to strike out two more in the 6th (with a single and a pop out as well). Lefty Nick Greenwood entered the game throwing for Memphis in the 7th, hit a batter and gave up two singles (one run scored) before getting OKC to hit into a double play and a groundout to end the inning. (Memphis 3, OKC 8).
Memphis bats failed to get anything going in the 8th inning, but Nick Greenwood returned for a clean bottom of the 8th – 3 up, 3 down with two ground outs fielded quickly and cleanly by second baseman, Kolten Wong.
Good ol’ Kozma drew a walk to kick off the top of the 9th, but was erased on the double play ball off the bat of catcher, Ed Easley. All of our hope for a two-out Redbird rally was then quickly dashed as Luis Mateo grounded out to first.
That being said, it was a perfect night for kicking back and watching baseball.
Some observations from a Cardinal fan:
After the final out, Heath came out of the dugout just as we were leaving – serendipity, I tell you! He signed a ball for us and I’m going to add it to my collection of favorite baseball mementos. I’ve been hoping to catch a game when Heath Wyatt pitches for a couple of years now. And last night, a baseball wish came true.
Sometimes, it’s not getting the win that makes a baseball night special…
Thanks for reading.
~Erika