Daily Farm Report: Helsley fans 7 & Gomber goes 7; Mercado drives in 2

The Cardinals farm system had a successful and rare day on Tuesday. Three of the four teams were victorious with Memphis being the only squad to not pull out a win, something that probably won’t happen very often.

Omaha Storm Chasers 4, Memphis Redbirds 3 (10)

Austin Gomber (SP): 7 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 Ks

Oscar Mercado (CF): 3-4, 2 RBIs, 2 SB, R

Carson Kelly (C): 2-5, 2B, RBI

Alex Mejia (1B): 2-4

The Redbirds dropped the first game of the series to the Storm Chasers in true walk-off fashion.

Kevin Herget struggled with his command and with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, walked in the game-winning run.

Omaha took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, an Oscar Mercado RBI single tied it in the top of the fourth, but Omaha quickly regained the lead with a run in the bottom half.

After Mercado was hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth, he stole second and was driven in by a Carson Kelly double. Another Oscar Mercado RBI single in the top of the tenth gave Memphis the lead before Omaha won it.

Mercado’s night brings his batting average to .378 on the season, good enough to rank him 13th in the PCL. Yairo Munoz made his first appearance for Memphis and it did not go well. He went 0-4 with three strikeouts and a walk.

Austin Gomber delievered his second straight quality start giving up two runs over seven innings. Mike Mayers made his first appearance in Memphis as well and pitched two scoreless innings. Herget pitched ²⁄₃ of an inning giving up two runs and three walks.

Springfield Cardinals 7, Frisco RoughRiders 5

Lane Thomas (CF): 2-4, HR, 3 RBI’s, R

Edmundo Sosa (SS): 2-5, 2B, 3B, RBI, 2 R

John Nogowski (DH): 2-4, HR, RBI, R

Chris Chinea (1B): 2-3, HR, RBI, R

Darren Seferina (2B): 1-4, HR, RBI, R

Ryan Helsley (SP): 6 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 6 BB, 7 Ks

Springfield used a big four-run seventh inning to propel them to victory. They’ve now won six of eight games after an 0-3 start to the season.

Darren Seferina and Chris Chinea had back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the second to give Springfield a 2-0 lead. Frisco scored a run in the third and fourth to even the score. A Lane Thomas RBI single in the bottom of the fifth quickly put Springfield back on top.

Frisco gained a one-run lead after scoring two runs in the top of the seventh, then came the big four-run Springfield inning. Edmundo Sosa started it with an RBI triple. Lane Thomas scored him with a two-run bomb. For the second time in the game, Springfield went back-to-back when John Nogowski went yard. Frisco scored another run in the top of the eighth but that’s as close as they could get.

Ryan Helsley could’ve been better, but could’ve been a lot worse as well. He gave up four runs over the course of six innings and struggled with his command giving up six walks. The six innings is his longest start of the season.

Landon Beck pitched a scoreless seventh and was credited with the win. Ramon Santos had a day he’d like to forget, he gave up four hits and a run and didn’t record an out. Chris Ellis pitched a perfect final two innings with two strikeouts for his second save of the season.

Palm Beach Cardinals 2 at Bradenton Marauders 1

Anthony Shew (SP): 5.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 Ks

Kramer Robertson (SS): 2-4, 2 R

Johan Mieses (RF): 1-3, RBI

Palm Beach used stellar pitching to help guide them to victory.

The lone runs came in the top of the fourth and ninth on RBI singles by Evan Mendoza and Johan Mieses. Bradenton’s only run came in the sixth.

Anthony Shew put in another stellar performance on the mound pitching 5 ²⁄₃ innings and not giving up an earned run and had five strikeouts compared to one walk. He’s now got a 0.51 ERA this season.

Jesus Cruz pitched 1 ¹⁄₃ innings with two strikeouts. Ian McKinney pitched a perfect final two innings with four strikeouts to move to 2-0 on the season.

Peoria Chiefs 6 at Quad Cities River Bandits 2

Winston Nicacio (SP): 6 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 5 Ks

Dylan Carlson (CF): 1-4, 2 RBIs, BB, R

Juan Yepez (DH): 1-3, RBI, 2 BB, R

Peoria saved all of their runs for one inning, but it was more than enough to pull out the win.

Quad Cities had a 2-0 lead after three that held until the eighth when Peoria put six runs on the board.

Juan Yepez hit an RBI single, Dylan Carlson a two-RBI single, two runs scored on an error, and Irving Lopez closed it with an RBI single of his own.

Nicacio did much better than he did in his first start that saw him give up six runs in three innings. The 21-year-old only surrendered two runs in six innings of work. Zach Prendergast pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning to pick up his second win of the season. Kevin Hamann had a much-needed relief appearance that was successful. Hamann pitched a hitless ninth with two strikeouts and a walk.

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Wednesday’s Probables

MEM: Jack Flaherty

SPR: Off. Next game on 4/19

PMB: TBD

PEO: Jake Walsh