Matt Clark cracked a two-run home run, Craig Cooper delivered a pinch two-run single and in between Erik Davis kept the Springfield Cardinals off balance Sunday as the San Antonio Missions scored a 6-4 victory at Hammons Field.
Springfield’s Arquimedes Nieto (1-3) took the loss, exhausting 82 pitches, and was lifted after falling into a no-out, bases-loaded mess in the sixth. He was charged for six runs, all earned.
His departure turned out to be a trap for reliever Thomas Eager, who was summoned from the bullpen and immediately gave up Cooper’s two-run single.
Davis (2-0) pitched five innings but allowed only two hits to a Springfield offense that produced 12 hits, half from leadoff man Tommy Pham and No. 2 batter Pete Kozma, in a 12-8 victory Saturday night.
He was backed by Clark’s two-run homer in the third, a shot that extended the Missions’ lead to 3-0.
Relievers Alexi Lara covered the next two innings, and Brandon Gomes worked in and out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth as Springfield managed only a run on a wild pitch.
Gomes had two strikeouts in that eighth, including a bases-loaded strikeout on a full-count fastball that he ran past a swinging Xavier Scruggs, who had homered in his previous at-bat.
Evan Scribner got the save despite the Cardinals loading the bases with no outs in the ninth, limiting them to a run on a Charlie Cutler single. He struck out Antone DeJesus, retired Pete Kozma on a flyout and struck out Matt Carpenter to end the game.
During the game, the Cardinals also lost hot-hitting outfielder Tommy Pham, who was lifted after his right hand or wrist was struck by an Davis errant pitch.
The incident happened in the third inning, and Pham scored on a Kozma’s double. But he was lifted shortly thereafter.