Fireworks burst beyond right field as Jesús Báez flipped his helmet toward a waiting mob at home plate. His drive to left-center had just ended a night of Springfield comebacks, the last of them giving the Cardinals a 9-7 walk-off victory over the Tulsa Drillers in Game 1 of the North Division Series.
Báez went 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs, saving his biggest swing for the ninth. Rainiel Rodriguez singled with one out against Carson Hobbs, and Báez followed with the two-run homer that put Springfield one victory from the Texas League Championship Series.
It was the Cardinals’ third answer to a Tulsa lead — and the only one Tulsa could not answer in return.
Springfield trailed 3-0 before Jack Gurevitch changed the game in the fourth. Báez singled, Won-Bin Cho walked and two strikeouts followed, leaving the rally one out from disappearing. Gurevitch drove Adam Serwinowski’s first pitch deep toward left, where Charles Davalan retreated to the track and jumped at the wall. The ball cleared him and landed on the berm, tying the game with Gurevitch’s three-run homer.
Báez put Springfield in front an inning later. Ryan Campos and Tai Peete opened the fifth with walks, and although a double play nearly extinguished the threat, Báez grounded a two-out RBI single into left for a 4-3 lead.
That advantage lasted until the seventh, when Mike Sirota hit a two-run homer off Domenic Picone. Springfield drew even in the bottom half, only for Tulsa to strike again in the eighth: Jake Gelof walked against Randel Clemente and Davalan followed with a two-run shot to right-center, putting the Drillers ahead 7-5.
The Cardinals answered with two outs again. Cho walked before Tre Richardson III and Gurevitch struck out against Jacob Kmatz. Cade McGee, still without a hit, reached down for a slider at the bottom of the zone and lined it over the left-center-field wall and into the Tulsa bullpen. His two-run homer made it 7-7.
Clemente kept it there by striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth. He earned the win with six strikeouts over two innings despite allowing Davalan’s two-run homer.
That left the stage to Báez, whose final swing completed a night in which Springfield erased deficits of 3-0, 5-4 and 7-5. Tulsa hit four home runs; the Cardinals hit three, each one pulling them level or ending the game.
The comeback also covered a difficult opening for Yhoiker Fajardo, who allowed three earned runs over four innings. Taylor Young and Griffin Lockwood-Powell homered in the first two frames, and Joe Vetrano’s RBI triple made it 3-0 in the fourth. Fajardo still struck out seven, and Nolan Sparks followed with two scoreless innings, two strikeouts and no walks.
Springfield finished with nine runs on nine hits and committed no errors. Cho reached three times with a single and two walks and scored twice, both times on game-tying homers.
Now the Cardinals hand the series to Liam Doyle, who is scheduled to start Game 2 after dealing with a blister near the end of the regular season. Before the opener, Doyle said the finger would not keep him from taking his turn.
“Good. I’ll be ready to go by Thursday. We’ve taken good care of it all week, and it feels good. Throwing a few bullpens on it and be ready to go.”
— Liam Doyle, Cardinals Game 2 Starting Pitcher
Doyle watched Springfield’s championship postseason run a year ago without appearing in a game. This time, after Báez and the Cardinals spent Tuesday night refusing to stay behind, he will take the mound with a chance to extend that title defense.