The Wichita Wranglers proved that there is definitely some uncertainty when it comes to minor league baseball. The Wranglers began their latest five game series with the first place Springfield Cardinals trailing by nine games. The Cardinals were enjoying a four game winning streak coming to Wichita and conventional wisdom would assume no problems for the Cardinals. Well, that’s when uncertainty comes in. The Wranglers lost the first game of the series, but quickly snatched the last four. In the last game of the series, Tuesday, the Wranglers pounded the Cardinals 11-5.
Donnie Murphy continued to punish Cardinals pitching going 3-for-5 with a solo home run in the third and two RBIs.
Wichita jumped on top early with runs in the first three innings and never let go from there. They scored four runs in the second and four more in the seventh.
Kila Kaaihue led off the second with a single. He later scored on a throwing error by catcher Gabe Johnson. A wild pitch by Cardinals starter Chris Lambert allowed another run to score. Two more runs would later score in the inning. After three innings, the score was already 7-0.
Juan Pressley made sure Springfield wouldn’t be shut out with a solo homer in the fifth. Rico Washington tried to help some more with a two-run shot in the sixth. But Wichita was just too much.
The Wranglers ended all doubt of the outcome when they erupted for four insurance runs in the seventh. The first five batters reached base on hits. Two of those hits were RBI doubles by Murphy and Kaaihue.
Junior Herndon pitched seven innings giving up three runs on six hits to get the win.
Chris Herndon allowed seven runs in just three innings of work to get the loss.
The Cardinals drop to 21-15.
