The Springfield Cardinals scratched and clawed their way to a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning on Tuesday, but they couldn’t hold on in a 6-5 loss to the Arkansas Travelers in Springfield.

Arkansas scored four runs off Springfield starter Stuart Pomeranz in the first two innings. With Mike Napoli at the plate in the first inning, Pomeranz made consecutive wild pitches which allowed Howie Kendrick to advance to third and score to give Arkansas a 1-0 lead. Napoli then homered to make it 2-0.

Aaron Herr hit his 14th home run of the season in the bottom of the first to get Springfield on board.

In the top of the fourth, Arkansas gave themselves some more breathing room when Mike Eylward hit a two run homer to make it 4-1.

Herr and Juan Diaz hit back-to-back singles for the Cardinals to cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the third inning.

The Cardinals trailed 5-3 after Erick Aybar drove in a run for the Travelers with a double in the fourth, but Springfield scored a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to tie it at 5-5. Shaun Boyd tied the game with an RBI single.

But the tie didn’t last long, as Arkansas took the lead back for good with Kendry Morales’ RBI single to score Napoli in the top of the seventh.