The Springfield Cardinals split the final two contests of their six-game series against the Arkansas Travelers at Route 66 Stadium with a 7-5 win on Saturday and a 10-2 loss on Sunday to maintain the best record in the Texas League for the second half and win the set four games to two.

After narrowly losing the series opener 8-7, the Cardinals rattled off four straight victories to commence the month of July. This winning streak pushed Springfield’s season record above .500 for the first time since April 10 – a climb that took 72 games to complete and involved the club overcoming a mark of 7-19 to begin the year.

Most of the grunt work done to pull off this accomplishment stems from the past couple of weeks, as the Cardinals have now triumphed in 13 of their last 16 games.

Saturday, July 4: Arkansas Travelers 5, Springfield Cardinals 7

Switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje dominated his former team on Saturday, as he delivered six shutout innings en route to a 7-5 Springfield victory over the Arkansas Travelers that ended on a dropped third strike putout at first base.

Ninth inning. Bases loaded. Two outs. A crowd of 6,159 fans clapping faster and faster. Righty reliever Randel Clemente on the mound with two strikes on Arkansas shortstop J.T. Arruda. Clemente fired a called strike for the punchout, but the ball hit off catcher Ryan Campos and rolled to the backstop. Unprepared to run to first, Arruda stood still. That pause gave Campos time to collect the ball from the back wall and throw it to first to record the out, hand Clemente the save and give Springfield the win.

What a way to celebrate the United State’s 250th birthday. A rendition of America’s pastime ends with a firm reminder of one of the game’s oldest yet most important rules – the dropped third strike, codified by the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club in 1845. 

Plus, this dramatic ending occurred in front of a roaring sea of red, white and blue in the stands at a place called Route 66 Stadium following a hot dog eating contest before the game and preceding a firework show to the sound of patriotic tunes after the game. Can an event get any more American than that?

Cijntje struck out nine batters on the evening – his second-highest total in any game this year. 

The No. 4 prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, according to MLB.com, delivered six shutout innings without allowing any runs. Since he came to Springfield as part of a deal that sent infielder Brendan Donovan to Seattle, the 2024 first-round pick has accomplished that feat twice against the Travelers team he once played for.

Center fielder Miguel Ugueto picked up the go-ahead hit in the bottom of the seventh with his team-leading 16th double that plated right fielder Travis Honeyman and put the Cardinals up 5-4. They led for the remainder of the contest.

Second baseman Jon Jon Gazdar also doubled home a run later that inning to tally a three-run frame for Springfield. With his two-run single from the previous inning, Gazdar finished the evening with a game-high three driven. He finished the contest with a team-high three hits.

Left fielder Tre Richarson III knocked in the first run of the ballgame on a bases loaded line drive into left, and first baseman Dakota Harris sent him home with a similar swing a couple of batters later to drive in the fourth and final run in the bottom of the sixth.

Although he allowed the Travelers to tie the affair the next half-inning, righty bullpen arm Tyler Bradt received his first win at the Double-A level this season. Southpaw Jack Findlay took over for him in the eighth and recorded five of the last six outs until manager Patrick Anderson called upon Clemente to seal the deal.

Catcher Ryan Campos collected the only other Springfield extra-base hit of the night with a double in the sixth. He and Ugueto joined Gazdar as the lone Cardinals with multi-hit performances.

Sunday, July 5: Arkansas Travelers 10, Springfield Cardinals 2

It’s not often you witness a team get beat by eight runs and still feel like that club hit just as well as, if not better than, the victor, but that’s exactly what happened on Sunday. 

Even though Arkansas won this matchup handedly, both teams notched seven hits and two-extra base hits. The Travelers struck out one more time than the Cardinals did, and Springfield catcher Rainiel Rodriguez both flied out to the wall with Honeyman on second in the fifth and lined out sharply to the pitcher with Honeyman on first to end the game. First baseman Deniel Ortiz also singled off the wall after admiring what he must have assumed was a goner. 

The difference between both teams on Sunday was their walk total and their production with runners in scoring position. Springfield walked a season-high 11 batters, and Arkansas walked four. Plus, the Travelers went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and the Cardinals went 0-for-6.

After missing the entirety of the 2025 season from Tommy John surgery, 2022 first-round pick out of Oregon State University Cooper Hjerpe made his return to Springfield in this game. 

He pitched better than his four runs allowed in 2.1 IP would indicate, as he fell victim to a triple that went by a diving Honeyman in right field and rolled all the way to the wall, plating two. The 25-year-old lefty punched out a team-high four batters while walking a pair in what ended up being a losing effort.

6-foot-7-inch righty D.J. Carpenter walked a game-high five hitters, and relievers Michael Watson and Hunter Hayes also issued two base on balls. Watson surrendered four runs to Arkansas in the fifth while recording only two outs in what proved to be the biggest inning of the day.

Left fielder Won-Bin Cho hit a solo shot in the fourth for his seventh long ball in just 10 Double-A games. Meanwhile, Honeyman led all batters with three hits, including a double in the fifth. Ortiz had the only other multi-hit game for Springfield, and Rodriguez picked up the only other RBI on a fielder’s choice from the third inning.

Final Thoughts

Springfield’s offense looks significantly better than how it looked a few weeks ago. Instead of waiting around for guys like Rodriguez and Campos to come to bat in the top part of the order like they were in the past, the Cardinals now have decent depth scattered throughout the lineup.

Cho’s hot start has ignited an offensive surge, and the middle of the order now seems like a bit of a gauntlet with heavy hitters seemingly everywhere.

The main point of concern for this roster now is the bullpen. Of course, this issue has been present in the past, but, now, it seems to be the greatest hindrance to this group’s success.

Mainly, the bullpen arms need to avoid beating themselves, as a lack of control like Sunday’s showing can cause tremendous damage and a lack of competitiveness.

However, the starting pitching has strong potential and can take this crew a long way if it continues to take ownership of these games.

Springfield’s recent progress will certainly be put to the test this week, as the Cardinals travel to Tulsa to take on the Drillers – the Texas League North Division first-half champions – for a five-game series before the all-star break.

Game one of that set begins tomorrow, Tuesday, July 7 at 7 p.m. at ONEOK Field.