SPRINGDALE -- Springfield decided it was time to do a little extra Friday night, and it extended Northwest Arkansas' recent losing skid Friday night.
Seven of the Cardinals' 12 hits went for extra bases, and they used a six-run outburst in the sixth inning to hand the Naturals their fourth consecutive loss with a 7-1 decision at Arvest Ballpark.
"It's one of those things we've talked about before -- we're not doing anything really well right now," Northwest Arkansas manager Chris Widger said. "Physically, the effort is still there, but we're still making too many mistakes. We're making wrong pitches at the wrong times and not locating pitches when we need to. We also had two more errors.
"Through the first half, up until the last two weeks, we were as good as anybody defensively. We have some guys in different positions right now and we've lost some people, but that's the mental part of the game. You still have to stay in it."
Springfield (29-38) broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth when the Cardinals batted around and eventually scored six runs. The outburst began when Jordan Walker belted a double off the right-field fence -- Springfield's fifth of the game -- and scored on a single by Malcom Nunez.
Northwest Arkansas starter Angel Zerpa (1-5), who had avoided serious trouble throughout the previous four innings, walked Nick Dunn to load the bases before Chandler Redmond belted a two-run double. One out later, Jonah Davis ended Zerpa's outing with a three-run home run to center field.
"It's the mistakes that are leading to runs that are killing us," Widger said. "We just have to clean it up. There's no way to say it except we have to go back on the field and do better."
The Naturals (31-35) came up with big defensive plays to keep the Cardinals from scoring any early runs. Aaron Antonini led off the third with a single and tried to score on a two-out double to left-center by Justin Toerner, but John Rave was able to get the ball in to Makiel Garcia, who threw home to get the out and end the inning.
A similar situation happened in the fourth when Nunez doubled and tried to score on a single to right by Dunn. Tyler Gentry, however, threw to the plate in time to get Nunez and end the scoring threat.
"Physically, we're still doing a good job of playing hard," Widger said. "We hit our cutoff man on the one in the gap. Rave makes a nice throw to Garcia, and relays to the plate. It gave us some life and some energy. And Gentry doing that in right on a ball that was slow hit, that kept us in it."
Springfield finally scored in the fifth when Antonini doubled and came home when Zerpa made an errant pickoff throw to first after Masyn Winn had drawn a walk. Northwest Arkansas, however, tied it in a similar fashion in the bottom of the fifth when a wild throw on an infield single by Garcia brought in Jake Means, who had earlier drawn a walk.