Right-hander Brian Broderick pitched into the eighth inning, and Tommy Pham and Pete Kozma each had three hits atop the order as the Springfield Cardinals opened a three-game series against the San Antonio Missions with a 12-8 win Saturday night at Hammons Field.
Broderick (7-2) got the win. He pitched 7 1/3 innings and allowed nine hits. But the Missions managed only allowed five runs, three earned.
Kozma finished a triple shy of the cycle, while Pham parlayd his Friday success — he homered twice and doubled twice — into a double, two singles, walk and two runs scored.
The Cardinals led 5-0 after two innings as they beat up 27-year-old left-hander Tyler Lumsden, who allowed eight runs, seven earned, and still managed to pitch six innings.
Andrew Brown’s two-run single highlighted a three-run first, in which Pham hit a leadoff single, Kozma followed with a double and Carpenter walked.
Kozma homered in his next at-bat after Pham doubled, and Carpenter hit his 12th home run in the fifth, a two-run shot that extended the Cardinals’ lead to 7-2.
Pham’s RBI single in the sixth made it 8-2, and Kozma’s bases-loaded walk in the eighth pushed the lead to 9-5.
The hit and walk proved significant down the stretch as San Antonio pulled within five — and had the bases loaded — before Adam Reifer entered to put the game to bed.
Reifer enduced a double-play grounder, then got the final batter to ground out on a comebacker. It was his 11th save in 10 chances.