Tulsa kept taking the game back Tuesday night, only for the bullpen to give it away again.
The Drillers carried three separate leads into the late innings and hit four home runs, but Springfield answered every time. Jesús Báez delivered the final blow, lifting a full-count pitch from Carson Hobbs over the wall in left-center for a two-run walk-off homer and a 9-7 Cardinals victory at Route 66 Stadium.
Tulsa is now one loss from elimination in the best-of-three series.
The Drillers led 3-0, fell behind, reclaimed a 5-4 advantage in the seventh and went back in front 7-5 in the eighth. Springfield erased them all. Four Tulsa relievers were charged with runs, while Kelvin Ramirez and Jacob Kmatz each recorded a blown save.
That made a potent night from the Drillers’ lineup feel especially hollow.
Taylor Young opened the game with a homer to left-center, and Griffin Lockwood-Powell went to the same part of the park an inning later. Kole Myers singled in the fourth and scored when Joe Vetrano shot a sharp ground ball into right for an RBI triple, stretching the lead to three runs.
Adam Serwinowski had struck out six by then, but his final two innings undid the early work. Báez singled to begin the Springfield fourth and Won-Bin Cho walked before Jack Gurevitch reached for a first-pitch breaking ball and sent it toward the short porch in left. The ball carried beyond the wall for a three-run homer that wiped out Tulsa’s entire advantage.
Serwinowski returned for the fifth and walked Ryan Campos and Tai Peete. Payton Martin entered and induced a double play, but Báez grounded a single into left to score Campos and give Springfield its first lead.
Serwinowski was charged with four earned runs over four innings, with four walks accompanying his six strikeouts. Martin steadied the game with 2 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out two without issuing a walk.
That gave Tulsa’s offense time to strike again. Elijah Hainline singled in the seventh, and after two outs Mike Sirota drove a two-run homer high and deep into the left-field night. His homer turned a one-run deficit into a 5-4 lead.
It lasted only until the bottom of the inning. Lucas Wepf allowed singles to Peete and Rainiel Rodriguez before Ramirez entered and walked Báez to load the bases. A wild pitch during Josiah Ragsdale’s plate appearance brought Peete home with the tying run, though Ramirez struck out Ragsdale to keep the score even.
Charles Davalan supplied another answer in the eighth. Jake Gelof walked, and Davalan drove a ball over the wall in right-center for his first Drillers homer, restoring a 7-5 lead. It was Tulsa’s fourth home run of the night, and for the third time the Drillers appeared to have control.
Again, the bullpen could not hold it.
Ramirez walked Cho to begin the bottom of the eighth, bringing on Kmatz. The right-hander struck out Tre Richardson III and Gurevitch, but Cade McGee drove a ball out to left-center to tie the game. Kmatz recovered to strike out Campos, his third strikeout of the inning, but the damage had produced Tulsa’s third squandered lead.
The Drillers struck out three times in the ninth. Hobbs retired Peete to begin the bottom half before Rodriguez lined a single. Báez followed with the game-ending homer, sending the Cardinals spilling toward home plate while Tulsa walked off with a loss that had slipped away in stages.
Báez finished 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs. Sirota went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, while Davalan drove in two more.
Springfield scored one run in the seventh and two in each of the final two innings. Tulsa had a fresh response for the first two rallies. There was none left for the last one.