Cardinals Affiliate Mounts Miraculous Eight-Run, Two-Out Comeback in Ninth Inning

The Double A affiliate for the Cardinals pulled off the most unlikely comeback in organized baseball this year. 

The Springfield Cardinals were facing the Corpus Christi Hooks on Sunday afternoon at home in a wild game that saw Springfield enter the bottom of the ninth trailing 14–6 and still come away with the victory. 

The inning started promisingly for the Cardinals, who had the bases loaded and one out after a trio of singles. Hooks pitcher Adrian Chaidez then walked in the first run of the inning, but it looked like Chaidez would be able to escape the inning after he struck out Thomas Saggese for the second out of the inning. 

So much for that. Then the wheels really fell off. 

Chaidez walked the next two batters, forcing in two more runs, and then allowed a two-run single. He was pulled with Corpus Christi now clinging to a 14–11 lead. 

Chaidez’s replacement, Jonathan Sprinkle, threw a wild pitch that allowed another run to score. A second wild pitch by Sprinkle allowed runners to advance to second and third. Still, Sprinkle came within one strike of ending the game. He had a full count on Aaron Antonini, but Antonini sliced a double down the line in left and those two runners who had advanced on the wild pitch scored easily to tie the game. The next batter, Errol Robinson, drove in the winning run. 

All told, the Cardinals scored nine runs in the inning—eight of them with two outs. They sent 12 batters to the plate who picked up six hits and four walks. 

The attendance was announced at 2,412, but it looks like only a fraction of the crowd stuck around until the end. Those who did stay were treated to a comeback they’ll never forget.