John Nagel writes as the Prospect Preacher and is the owner of CardinalsFarm.com where he covers the Cardinals minor league system on a daily basis.
While the big club was having issues with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Baby Birds had a solid night. Palm Beach and Peoria were winners while Springfield fell to Arkansas. Mike O’Neill and James Ramsey had good nights in the losing effort for Springfield. Ramsey has a 5 game hitting streak and has brought his Double-A average up to .256. David Popkins of the Palm Beach Cardinals also has a 5 game hitting streak and could see more playing time as outfielder Nick Longmire was promoted to Double-A Springfield. Corey Jones was solid again on the mound for the Peoria Chiefs. Jones has made 2 starts for Peoria and has picked up 2 wins and has an ERA of 0.75
Here are the results from Wednesday’s action:
Arkansas 6, Springfield (28-28) 2
Mike O’Neill led the way for the Springfield Cardinals on Wednesday going 3-for-5 with 2 doubles, a run scored, and a RBI. James Ramsey and Cody Stanley each had 2 hits with Stanley adding a double and run scored. Ruben Gotay picked up the other RBI and was on base three times with a hits and 2 walks.
Nick Greenwood started and allowed 2 earned runs over 5 and 1/3 innings. Heath Wyatt came on in relief and pitched 2 perfect innings. Lee Stoppelman followed and allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning. Kevin Thomas closed it out allowing a run in 1 inning.
Player of the Game: Mike O’Neill
Palm Beach (22-35) 6, Tampa 3
The Palm Beach Cardinals got some good production from the bottom part of the lineup as David Popkins had 3 hits, 2 runs scored, and a RBI. Danny Stienstra added 2 hits including a triple and a run scored. Ronny Gil, the team’s 9th place hitter added a hit, run scored, and 2 RBI’s. Anthony Garcia went 0-for-4 after two very solid games.
Brad Watson made the start and allowed 1 earned run on 6 hits over 6 innings while striking out four to pick up his first win. Danny Miranda pitched 2 scoreless innings and Corey Baker picked up his first save with a scoreless ninth.
Player of the Game: David Popkins
Clinton 1, Peoria (31-25) 4
The Peoria Chiefs continued their winning way with a solid showing against Clinton. Ildemaro Vargas led the way out of the 2 spot in the lineup. Vargas was 3-for-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. Jordan Walton added a double and 3 RBI’s as well. Jesus Montero hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the 6th inning.
Corey Jones was stellar for the second time in a row. Jones went 7 innings and allowed 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and struck out 4. Samuel Tuivailala threw 2 perfect innings with 2 strikeouts to pick up his first save.
Player of the Game: Corey Jones
