Yeah, he couldn't wait and his heart, the one affected by a viral infection back in April, was beating pretty good as he awaited his first rehab assignment.

Turns out, there doesn't seem to be much to worry about.

Eldred pitched two innings of scoreless relief in his first appearance in nearly two months and it was good enough for his first Texas League win in 15 years as Springfield rallied for an 8-7 victory against the Frisco RoughRiders on Saturday night at Hammons Field.

"It's just kind of nice to get some adrenaline going," Eldred said. "But, yeah, nervousness is a good word for it. I knew, no matter how things went, I've got to get out there and pitch. I wanted to get out there."

On a night when Juan Diaz hit a grand slam and the Cardinals capitalized on two eighth-inning errors for their ninth win in 13 games, Eldred drew the loudest ovations from a crowd of 8,226.

The 37-year-old right-hander, on the disabled list since April 11 due to a virus that affected the lining and muscles of his heart, threw 21 pitches in the eighth and ninth innings. He faced the minimum of six batters beginning with Frisco's No. 8 man in the lineup, Dustin Smith, who hit a weak pop-up to first baseman Andy Schutzenhofer. From there, Eldred struck out the next batter, retired two others on groundouts and the final two on flyballs.

Eldred averaged 90 mph on his pitches, and will make another rehab assignment Tuesday night.

"He located all of his pitches very well," said Mark Riggins, St. Louis' veteran minor league pitching coordinator. "He threw his breaking ball for strikes, his fastball was low in the zone and he was ahead in the count. It looked like a major-league game for him."

It turned out to be Eldred's first Texas League victory since 1990 when he was with El Paso, then a Milwaukee affiliate.

Frisco committed two eighth-inning errors that resulted in the tying and go-ahead runs, with shortstop Joaquin Arias' fielding error on a Shaun Boyd, two-out grounder allowing Dan Moylan to score the go-ahead run.

That was all part of a game with four homers and a three-run triple.

Diaz's grand slam in the fifth, coupled with Travis Hanson's solo homer in the seventh, helped the Cardinals rally.

But this night belonged to Eldred.

"Things felt good," he said. "The biggest thing was I wasn't overthrowing pitches, and that was important. It was good."