The Northwest Naturals scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth, both coming on bases-loaded wild pitches by Springfield reliever Deryk Hooker, to pull out a 5-4 victory over the Springfield Cardinals before an announced crowd of 3,820 at Arvest Ballpark Sunday night in Springdale.
The Naturals trailed 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth against Hooker, who replaced Lee Stoppelman to start the inning.
Hooker (1-4, 3.40 ERA) was shooting for his eighth save, but he didn’t get it.
Ray Navarro singled to right field to lead off. Pinch-hitter Angel Franco singled to right-center field to put runners on first and second with no out. Whit Merrifield bunted for a hit to load the bases.
Hooker got former Arkansas Razorback Brett Eibner to fly to short right, but that was the final out Hooker would get.
Hooker fired a wild pitch with Orlando Calixte batting, allowing Navarro to score and tie the game 4-4. Hooker intentionally walked Calixte to load the bases. Then, Hooker fired another wild pitch, with Brian Fletcher at the plate, allowing Franco to score the winning run.
Northwest Arkansas scored three of its five runs after wild pitches.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. Catcher Casey Rasmus singled to right to score Casey Stanley to tie the game 1-1. After Rasmus stole second, Mike O’Neill reached on a fielder’s choice, allowing Luis Mateo, who walked earlier, to score and make it 2-1. O’Neill stole second, and James Ramsey singled to left-center field to score Rasmus and O’Neill to make it 4-1.
The Naturals closed to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth when Eibner’s sacrifice fly scored Merrifield. They closed to 4-3 in the sixth when Lane Adams walked, advanced to third on Navarro’s base hit and scored on a wild pitch.
Jon Keck (1-3) picked up the victory, pitching the last two scoreless inning for the
Sports, Pages 20 on 07/22/2013