The Midland RockHounds slugged their way to a 10-1 win against the Springfield Cardinals before 4,002 fans at Security Bank Ballpark on Saturday night. Midland 1B Seth Brown led the charge with a pair of two-run home runs.
The Cardinals (0-3) came out swinging with an early run in the top of the second against RHP Ben Bracewell (W, 1-0). In his first Double-A at-bat, 1B Chris Chinea powered a solo home run to right field to start the stanza and swing Springfield ahead, 1-0.
In his Cardinals debut, RHP Conner Greene (L, 0-1) faced the minimum in his opening inning, but the RockHounds (3-0) got the bats going in the second. An infield single, a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs, before a bases-clearing, three-run double from 3B Mikey White propelled the ‘Hounds ahead, 3-1.
Midland kept swinging against RHP Tyler Bray in the bottom of the third. With one on and one down, Brown sent his first two-run shot of the night out to right field, growing the RockHounds lead to 5-1.
The ‘Hounds added four more in the fourth, including another two-run home run from Brown, before plating an unearned run in the fifth to make it 10-1.
Bracewell yielded just the one run early through his 5.0 innings, followed by scoreless relief from RockHounds RHP John Gorman (2.0 IP) and LHP Jarret Martin (2.0 IP) to close the 10-1 win for Midland. Cardinals RHP Estarlin Arias (2.0 IP) and LHP Brady Bowen (1.0 IP) countered with scoreless work through the final three frames.
