Ankiel sends Cardinals to victory in 13th

 Kary Booher
News-Leader

Rick Ankiel hit a two-run home run off Evan Fahrner with two outs in the bottom of the 13th inning, sending the Springfield Cardinals to a rousing 11-10 victory over the Midland RockHounds on Thursday night at Hammons Field.

Shaun Boyd hit a two-out single, then Ankiel fouled off three pitches before sending a full-count pitch screaming over the right-field wall. It was Ankiel’s third home run since he joined the Cardinals on Aug. 2.

All this on a night when Aaron Herr and Brendan Ryan each had four hits, with Ryan popping a game-tying home run in the ninth, and their efforts looking to go to waste after Kevin Melillo hit a solo homer off Alan Benes in the top of the 13th.

The game lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes and ended at 12:40 a.m.
Friday, although Springfield manager Chris Maloney wasn't around after the eighth inning when he was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

What a wild ending it was. The Cardinals battled back from deficits of 2-0, 8-7, 9-8 and 10-9 to win. In the 12th, Andre Ethier scored on a Benes wild pitch and Travis Hanson answered with a sacrifice flyout.
Only about 1,000 of the 7,791 were around to see the finish.

It was the start of a seven-game homestand for the Cardinals, who returned from a two-week road trip at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday and were looking forward to some home cooking after going 5-8 on the trip.

Herr finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs, a walk and a sacrifice bunt. Ryan had two singles, a double and a home run, his second of the season.

All night Herr had been the catalyst in the offense, striking a two-run double in the first inning to tie the game at 2-2, then resurfacing an inning later with a two-run single that was too hot for third baseman Spanos to handle and thus pushed the Cardinals to a 5-2 lead.

The forces seemed to work against Herr from there, however. Herr hit what would have been his team-leading 21st home run in the fourth, but settled for a double after the ball caromed back into the field after it apparently hit the top of the wall in dead center.

He then hit a one-out single in the eighth and was at second base, representing the go-ahead run, only to be stranded there after
Midland sniffed out the Cardinals’ rally. His 10th inning sacrifice bunt went for nothing, too, after Midland forced the Cardinals to strand Tyler Minges at third base.