Cody Stanley didn't do too much Tuesday night in the Texas League All-Star Home Run Derby.
The Springfield Cardinals catcher saved it for the actual game.
Stanley drove a first-pitch fastball from Corpus Christi's Kyle Smith onto the berm in right field for a two-run home run in the fourth inning of a game that was otherwise dominated by pitching, and it turned out to be the game winner in the North Division's 3-1 victory over the South in front of an announced crowd of 9,047 in the first All-Star game played at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"That was the one that counted," Stanley said.
Stanley's home run came after he took some ribbing -- and encouragement -- from his teammates for hitting only one home run in the Home Run Derby and failing to make it out of the first round.
"We told him he wasn't a five o'clock hitter, he's a 7 o'clock hitter," said Arkansas first baseman Brian Hernandez, who doubled to left-center to set up Stanley's two-run home run. "He shows up for the game."
Stanley was toting around a pair of prizes after being named the Most Valuable Player -- a professional wrestling-style championship belt and a bat with "Top Star Award" carved into its barrel.
"I figured I might as well work on my approach in the Home Run Derby then come to the game and really take some swings," Stanley said. "It's a tough park to hit in, but luckily tonight the wind was on our side."
Stanley's home run stood up as the All-Star game played out similarly to most regular-season Texas League games, which average four combined runs and usually feature solid pitching and maybe one swing that changes the game's course.
Arkansas starter Michael Roth and Springfield starter Kyle Hald combined to retire the first nine South batters. San Antonio's Rymer Liriano singled off Hald to lead off the fourth and scored on a single by Midland's Josh Whitaker to give the South a 1-0 lead.
But Hald retired the final two batters, and Stanley's home run in the bottom of the fourth gave the North a 2-1 lead that it never gave up. Hald gave up 1 run on 2 hits in 2 innings and earned the victory.
"I was expecting a lot of first-pitch swinging, and that's what happened," Hald said. "I knew they were going to be aggressive, and they were."
Hald admitted to giving Stanley a hard time after the Home Run Derby, but Arkansas Manager Phillip Wellman didn't. Wellman might be managing a North Division rival now, but he was the Cardinals' hitting coach the previous three years. He tutored Stanley a year ago in his first season at Class AA, and the two have remained close.
Stanley sat next to Wellman on Monday night at the Texas League All-Star Gala dinner and said they talk on the phone almost every other day.
"I've invested two years of my life with that kid," Wellman said. "He's matured a lot, not only as a person but as a hitter. He has an idea now."
The North added a run in the fifth when Tulsa's Brian Humphries doubled and scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 lead. Then, Arkansas' Carmine Giardina, Tulsa's Kraig Sitton, Arkansas' Daniel Reynolds, Northwest Arkansas' Andrew Triggs and Arkansas' Cam Bedrosian held the South to a combined two hits over the final five innings.
"Pitching usually shuts down hitting," said South Manager Rich Dauer, who manages San Antonio. "In a park like this, where it's very hard to hit it out, that was the difference in the game.
"They hit one home run and that was it."
Sports on 06/25/2014