Down 3-0 after four innings in a must-win Game 2 in the Texas League Championship Series vs. Midland, Class AA Springfield extended its season with a 4-3 win Tuesday to force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Wednesday at Momentum Bank Ballpark in Midland, Texas.
Springfield trailed by three runs entering the top of the fourth inning against the Athletics’ Class AA affiliate after Springfield starter and Texas League pitcher of the year Ixan Henderson allowed a three-run homer on a first-pitch slider he hung over the middle of the plate to Clark Elliot.
Two-out RBIs in the fifth inning from catching prospect Leonardo Bernal and Dakota Harris drew Springfield (Missouri) within a run of Midland. Back-to-back RBI hits in the sixth inning from Jeremy Rivas and Darlin Moquete propelled the S-Cards to the one-run lead Henderson (six innings), Ricardo Velez (1 2/3 innings), and Mason Burns (1 1/3 innings) protected.
The win sets the Springfield up to play for the Texas League Championship Series on Wednesday in Midland. Texas League postseason All-Star Brycen Mautz is slated to start for the S-Cards as they look to claim their first Texas League title since 2012.
Bernal, 21, provided the S-Cards’ response to the deficit with a mighty swing on an 0-2 slider from Midland starter Gage Jump.
Bernal, a switch-hitter batting from the right side against the lefty Jump, hit a towering triple that banged off the wall in center field to score Noah Mendlinger from first base with two outs after Mendlinger dropped a single into left field with one out in the frame.
Springfield tacked on an additional run an at-bat later on a single from Dakota Harris that was knocked down on the edge of the outfield grass that left shortstop Leo De Vries with no chance to throw out Harris out at first.
Following Henderson’s shutdown fifth inning, Miguel Ugueto’s leadoff walk set the stage for the early scoring opportunity that Rivas, 22, capitalized on with Springfield’s second triple in Game 2.
Rivas, who hit a two-run homer in Sunday’s 6-3 loss in Game 1 at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri, belted a fly ball to right field that got past a diving Nate Nankil and rolled to the wall, allowing Ugueto to score and tie the game at 3-3.
Moqeuete, 26, provided the go-ahead run on a chopping grounder with the infield playing in that bounced over the head of De Vries, the centerpiece prospect the Athletics acquired at the trade deadline from the Padres in the Mason Miller trade, and trickled into left field.
In relief of Henderson, Velez and Burns combined to limit Midland to one hit and a walk over the final three innings of Game 2.
Burns stranded runner on first and second base to end the eighth inning when he got Tommy White to line out to right field and followed that with two strikeouts and a pop out to complete his four-out save.
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Daniel Guerrero | Post-Dispatch
Baseball writer
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