Pals powers Cards to victory

Springfield starter hurls a gem in final start, leading team to .500 mark.
Kary Booher
kbooher@news-leader.com

There hadn’t been much to smile about. Not through most of July. Not even through most of August, and there was a moment when Springfield Cardinals right-hander Jordan Pals joked that he might look into buying a Voodoo doll to cure his woes.

“He’s pitched great for us all season,” designated hitter Cody Haerther said, “and most of the time it was just lack of offensive support.”

And so along came Haerther delivering the big blow in a second-inning ambush on Friday night, popping a three-run homer that paved the way for Pals to win his final start of the season as the Cardinals dropped the Arkansas Travelers 9-4 before 8,206 at Hammons Field.

Haerther’s 10th homer of the year broke open a tight game, highlighted a six-run frame and, on a night when Papo Bolivar and
Rick Ankiel also socked solo home runs, Pals made sure their efforts didn’t go to waste.

The right-hander worked 7 innings, retired 16 out of 20 in one stretch and handed the game over to Alan Benes when the Travelers drew within five runs, all in a performance that moved the Cardinals to the .500 mark for the first time since July 16.

“We’ve been swinging the bats pretty good lately,” Pals said, giving props to the Cardinals’ 13-hit attack. “I knew they’d get some runs tonight, but I didn’t know they’d get that many.”

It was understandable Pals (7-11) was so appreciative. Only once in his previous 10 starts did he pocket a win, a stat line that suggested poor pitching when the reality was the right-hander hadn’t been too roughed up at all. In six of those 10 starts, he had allowed three runs or less and, at one point, joked about buying a Voodoo doll.

“But I didn’t go that far,” he pointed out.

He didn’t have to.

Given an 8-2 cushion in the second inning, Pals responded by carving through the Arkansas lineup. When he gave up a leadoff single in the fifth, he calmly worked around it. A two-out single in the sixth? Nothing to worry about. He retired the next batter on a groundout, one of 11 on the night by Pals.

Really, his only blemishes were Howie Kendrick’s solo homer in the first inning and Mike Napoli’s two-run double in the eighth, that following a one-out single and Kendrick's infield chopper that allowed
Reggie Willits to reach second base safely.

Pals threw 97 pitches, 69 for strikes.

“I’m very happy for him,” pitching coach Blaise Ilsley said. “He’s made a lot of strides this year.”

The same could be said for Haerther. Hobbled by a hyper-extended knee for nearly two months, he blistered August, then opened a new month with three hits Thursday and two in his first at-bats Friday.

Arkansas’ Mark O'Sullivan (1-4) was making a spot start in place of Daniel Davidson, out with a blister, and gave up eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings.

Bolivar hit his 10th homer of the year leading off the Cardinals’ second, and three one-out singles followed, including Dan Moylan’s run-scoring gapper, before Haerther gave the picnickers beyond the left-center wall a souvenir.

“We had a lot of big hits,” Springfield manager Chris Maloney said.

“But that was a big bolt, that three-run job. That was a pretty good pitch, too. He stayed down on it and drove it.”

In the sixth, Ankiel added his eighth home run since his Aug. 2 return, and Benes pitched 1Ò innings to close it out, giving Pals a nice going-away gift.

“I was just trying to keep pitching well and I knew eventually I’d get some wins here and there,” Pals said. “It’s nice. You always want to finish strong because you don’t want to be thinking about it the whole offseason.”

Now he won’t.