2031 St. Louis River Walkers: The ring is the thing

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Record: 1-1, 4th, 0.5 GB Kansas City and Des Moines
Phil Bickford made his debut with Springfield an impressive one, allowing one run over five innings, to help spur the Railers to a 2-1 win over St. Louis at Busch Stadium (1997).
Signed by the Railers as a free agent after spending the 2030 season with Toledo, the 35-year-old Bickford (1-0) gave up four hits over his five innings -- the only hit a Rick Scott homer in the fifth inning to make it 2-1 -- while striking out six and didn't issue a walk.
The game's only other runs came on a two-run homer from Wander Samuel Franco in the top of the fourth inning off River Walkers starter Izzy San Juan.
Three relievers combined to keep St. Louis from tying it over the final four innings.
Joseph King worked the sixth inning.
The seventh and eighth were taken care of by Alex Claudio.
Mario Reyes pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

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Record: 1-2, 5th, 2 GB Kansas City
Alex Otero and Ruben Villanueva hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the 10th inning off St. Louis rookie reliever Ron Peterson to help give Springfield a 5-3 win at Busch Stadium (1997).
With wins in the final two games, the Railers claimed the three-game series.
Otero, the reigning National League MVP, struck first off Peterson hitting a 1-0 pitch with one out travelling 447 feet over the center-field fence.
Villanueva's homer came on a 2-1 count, it carried 444 feet, almost to the same spot as Otero.
Down 2-1, the Springfield had gone up 3-2 with a pair of runs off River Walkers starter Zack Hunsicker in the top of the second.
Matthew Lugo drove in the first run with a single.
Riley Greene plated the second but was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Jose Ramirez trying to stretch it to an inside-the-park homer.
St. Louis tied it in the bottom of the ninth when Jose Segura led off with a homer off Mario Reyes.
It was Segura's second homer of the game, as his two-run homer in the first off Springfield starter Raul Ahumada had given the Walkers a brief 2-1 lead.
Ahumada would end up pitching six innings, allowing two runs on five hits.
Joseph King worked a pair of scoreless innings to get the game to the ninth.
Reyes (1-0) blew the save in the ninth, but earned the win.
Chris Hensley earned his first save in the bottom of the 10th.

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Record: 2-2, 4th, 2 GB Kansas City
Pinch-hitter Nathaniel Dixon connected on a game-tying triple and later scored on a Thairo Estrada single, as St. Louis tallied twice with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally for a 3-2 win over Louisville at Busch Stadium (1997).
Dixon's triple off Sluggers reliever Miguel Vinicio scored Heston Kjerstad, who had led off the inning with a single.
Loiuisville intentionally walked Jose Ramirez to bring Estrada to the plate.
He singled on a 1-2 pitch to bring Dixon home with the game-winning run.
The Sluggers had gone up 2-0 thanks to solo homers from Gioncarlo Stanton (in the fourth inning) and Matt Bryant (in the fifth) off Walkers starter Kaneo Kawamoto.
Ramirez reached on an error by Louisville second baseman Kevin Yanwinkle to lead off the eighth.
A single from Jose Segura moved Ramirez to third, and he scored on a Jordan Gorshans fly ball hit off Vinicio.
Kawamoto allowed two runs on six hits over 6.1 innings. He struck out six and walked two.
Yeison Santos pitched out of trouble in the seventh.
Ricky Cisneros worked a scoreless eighth.
Cory Tiller (1-0) did the same in the ninth, setting himself up for the win when the Walkers rallied in the bottom of the inning.

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Record: 2-3, 4th (Tied/w. Quad City), 3 GB Kansas City
Louisville and St. Louis combined for 11 home runs, but it was the seven the Sluggers hit in the first four innings which propelled them to a wild 13-9 win at Busch Stadium (1997).
The Sluggers got a two-run homer from Giancarlo Stanton and solo shots from Kevin Yanwinkle and Kellum Clark off Walkers starter Lenyn Crisp in the top of the first as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead.
St. Louis fired back with three runs in the bottom of the inning -- Jose Segura driving in all of the runs with the first of his two homers in the game.
Louisville didn't need the long ball to add three more runs in the second, chasing Crisp in the process.
Yanwinkle picked up another RBI with a single, while Clark added a pair with a double that chased Crisp.
But St. Louis deadlocked it with four runs in the bottom of the third.
Jordan Groshans plated the first three with a homer.
The next batter, Rick Scott, also went deep to tie it and send Sluggers starter Owen White to the shower.
But by the time St. Louis scored again, Louisville led 13-7.
The first three runs came in the top of the fourth with a trio of solo shots.
Matt Bryant and Stanton went back to back off Ricky Cisneros.
After a strike out, Clark clubbed his second homer of the game to make it 10-7.
The Sluggers tallied three more times in the sixth.
Brandon Clement doubled off Ron Peterson for the inning's first run.
Jonathan Vaughns greeted reliever Yeison Santos with a two-run homer,
St. Louis scored four times late -- including one on Segura's second homer of the game -- but it never really got close.
Starting pitcher White lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing seven runs on six hits.
Brian Baker (1-1) was given the win after finishing the third and working the fourth.
Cody Deason and Miguel Vincio both pitched two innings.
The ninth belonged to Jose Hernandez.

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Record: 3-3, 4th, 2 GB Kansas City and Springfield
Rookie Nathaniel Dixon hit a two-run pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the seventh inning to help lift St. Louis to a 3-2 win over Louisville at Busch Stadium (1997).
The victory gave the River Walkers wins in two out of the three games in the series.
Jean Carmona drew a lead-off walk from Jose Hernandez to open the bottom of the seventh.
Dixon followed with his homer, driving a 2-1 pitch 399 feet over the wall in right field.
Louisville had taken a 2-1 led in the top of the sixth on a lead-off homer from Bradley Mondesir off Walkers starting pitcher Tiburcio.
He didn't get the win, but Tiburcio was impressive allowing two runs on two hits -- both solo homers, the other coming from Kellum Clark in the second inning -- over six innings while striking out 15 and walking three.
Elian Acosta (1-0) got the win for pitching a scoreless seventh.
Cory Tiller set the Sluggers down in order in the eighth.
Closer Ernesto Barbosa pitched for the first time this season and came away with his first save.

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MBL news: Week 1 -- Awards and standings

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The St. Louis River Walkers have signed 27-year-old outfielder Jose Ramirez to a four-year extension worth a total of $70 million.
Acquired from Rockford prior to the 2030 season to be an impact bat, Ramirez struggled through the first half of his initial season in St. Louis but his huge second half was a big reason the Walkers won the National League South Division and eventually made it to Game 7 of the World Series.
For the season, Ramirez hit .262 with 46 homers and 95 RBIs.
He's been a bit slow to start in 2031, batting just .167 with three RBIs through the first six games.
Ramirez will be payed $17.5 million starting with the 2032 season.

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Record: 4-3, 3rd (Tied/w. Des Moines), 1 GB Kansas City and Springfield
Jordan Groshans snapped a 5-5 tie with a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and St. Louis went on to defeat Kansas City 10-5 at Busch Stadium (1997).
The Monarchs jumped out to leads of 3-0 (after a half-inning) and 4-1 (after an inning and a half) and later 5-4.
But St. Louis tied it at 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth on a solo homer from Rick Scott off KC reliever Jose Buenrostro.
An inning later, Groshans put the Walkers in front for good with his three-run shot with one out, also off Whitaker.
Jose Ramirez, who had been hit by a pitch to open the inning, and Jose Segura, who had received an intentional walk, scored in front of Groshans.
Tony Locey replaced Whitaker after the homer but the Walkers got to him as well.
Steve Rossi greeted him with a double, he later scored on a Jared Thomas double.
Ramirez capped the scoring with his first homer of the season, a lead-off long ball in the eighth off Grayson Rodriguez.
Walkers starter Izzy San Juan had his struggles, allowing five runs on eight hits over 5.2 innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
Zach Evers got the final out of the sixth.
Andres Hernandez (1-0) pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, which would earn him the win.
Elian Acosta handled the final two innings.

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Record: 5-3, 1st (Tied/w. Springfield, Kansas City and Des Moines), 2 GA Quad City
Zack Hunsinger allowed just two hits over eight shutout innings, and also hit a two-run home run, to help lead St. Louis to an 8-0 win over Kansas City at Busch Stadium (1997).
Hunsinger's homer came in the bottom of the second off Monarchs starter Dominic Pipkin and made it 5-0.
It was one of four homers hit by the Walkers.
Steve Rossi took Pipkin deep in the first inning to make it 2-0.
Rick Scott hit the first of his two homers to lead off the bottom of the second.
He later capped the scoring with another lead-off bomb, this one in the eighth off Andy Pagnozzi to make it 8-0.
Scott has six homers in the first eight games of the season.
Rossi finished the game with three RBIs, driving in a pair of with two-out single off Pagnozzi in the seventh.
The only hits Hunsicker allowed both came in the fourth -- Jason Gillem and Darren Miller both connecting for singles -- but aided by a double play which provided the inning's first two out, the right-hander got out of the inning without allowing a run.
Hunsicker struck out seven and walked one.
Rookie Ron Peterson pitched a scoreless ninth.

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Record: 6-3, 1st (Tied/w. Des Moines), 1 GA Kansas City
Steve Rossi hit a three-run walk-off home run off Kansas City's Matt Broussard in the bottom of the ninth inning to give St. Louis a 10-8 win at Busch Stadium (1997).
The victory gave the River Walkers a three-game sweep of their series with the Monarchs.
Broussard retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth before issuing a walk to Jose Ramirez.
Jordan Groshans followed with a single.
Rossi then turned on a 1-1 pitch and drove it 422 feet over the wall in right field.
A wild game, Kansas City jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a single run off Walkers' starter Kaneo Kawamoto in the second and three in the third.
But St. Louis wiped that out by battering Monarchs starter Anderson Parra for six runs in the bottom of the third.
Rossi also had a big hit in that inning with a two-run double. Jared Thomas also had a two-run double.
KC tied it in the top of the fourth.
Ryan West led off the inning with a homer off Kawamoto.
Pinch-hitter Cory Acton later plated a run with a double, also off Kawamoto.
St. Louis took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth after Thomas doubled and scored on a fly ball hit by pinch-hitter Jose Segura.
The lead swung back to the Monarchs in the eighth.
Jason Gillem driving in both with a double off Andres Hernandez.
Kawamoto was credited with throwing just three innings, allowing six runs on eight hits.
Six relievers followed him to the mound -- Ricky Cisneros (2.2 IP), Zack Evers (0.1), Yeison Santos (1.2), Hernandez (0.0), Cory Tiller (0.1) and Ron Peterson (1.0) -- with Peterson (1-0) coming out of it with his first career win.

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Record: 7-3, 1st, 1 GA Des Moines
Lenyn Crisp rebounded from a horrific first start of the 2031 season with six shutout innings in St. Louis 2-0 win over Evansville at Yankee Stadium (1998).
The victory was the fifth in a row for the River Walkers.
Ravaged for seven runs in just 1.2 innings by Louisville, this time Crisp allowed just four hits while striking out eight and walking one.
Yeison Santos pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings.
Ernesto Barbosa got into a game for the second time and earned his second save.
The Walkers got the only run they would need right off the bat.
Jose Ramirez drew a walk from Braxton Ashcraft to lead off the game.
A Jean Carmona bunt moved Ramirez to second.
Jose Segura chased him home with a single.
Carmona scored the game's only other run.
He led off the third with a single off Ashcraft.
Carmona moved to second after Jose Segura was hit by a pitch.
Jordan Groshans collected the RBI with a single.

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Record: 8-3, 1st, 2 GA Kansas City and Des Moines
Down 1-0, St. Louis seized control with two runs in the top of the fifth inning and three more in the sixth, and the River Walkers went on to defeat Evansville 6-2 at Yankee Stadium (1988).
It was a lead-off double from Jean Carmona which finally allowed the St. Louis to get something going against Bosses starter Nathan Ward in the top of the fifth.
Jared Thomas and Joshua Rivera both followed with singles, Rivera driving in Carmona to tie the game.
Pitcher Angel Tiburcio got down a bunt to move the runners to second and third.
Jose Ramirez gave St. Louis the lead when Thomas scored on his ground out.
An inning later, Jose Segura led things off with a homer off reliever Jeff Young.
Jared Thomas connected for a two-run homer off Young four batters later to make it 5-1.
St. Louis starter Angel Tiburcio (2-0) allowed two runs on two hits over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked one.
A Luke Leto homer off Tiburcio in the bottom of the seventh made it 5-2.
The Walkers got that run back in the top of the eighth, Jean Carmona hitting his first homer of the season off Mike Moore.
Elian Acosta got the first two outs of the eighth before getting into trouble.
Zach Evers bailed him out while keeping the score 6-2.
Andres Hernandez allowed two runners to reach in the ninth, forcing Ricky Cisneros to come on and get Rudy Rott to ground out to end it.
It marked Cisneros first save of the season.

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Record: 9-3, 1st, 2 GA Kansas City
Izzy San Juan allowed one run over the first six innings to help St. Louis down Evansville 4-1 for their seventh consecutive win at Yankee Stadium (1998).
A 17-game winner in 2030, San Juan (1-1) earned his first win of the new season by allowing one run on three hits. He struck out seven and walked two.
The lone run allowed by the left-hander came in the sixth inning on a single by Seth Beer and make it 3-1.
San Juan retired the next two to keep the two-run advantage before exiting.
Andres Hernandez worked a scoreless seventh inning and got the first out of the eighth.
Ricky Cisneros handled the remainder of the eighth.
Ernesto Barbosa collected his third save in as many tries in the ninth.
St. Louis broke on front with a pair of runs in the top of the second off Bosses starter Ray Pockck.
After retiing the inning's first batter, Pocock allowed three straight singles -- the third by Jared Thomas driving in the game's first run.
San Juan later got in on the fun with a single to score Rick Scott and make it 2-0.
Jose Segura hit his sixth homer of the season, off Pocock in the fourth to increase the lead to 3-0.
Jean Carmona hit a lead-off homer off Wyatt Beddow in the seventh to cap the scoring.

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Record: 10-3, 1st, 2 GA Kansas City
Jose Segura homered two more times and Zack Hunsicker pitched six strong innings as St. Louis extended its win streak to eight games and completed a four-game sweep of Evansville with a 7-2 win at Yankee Stadium (1988).
Segura hit a two-run homer off Bosses starter Cory Maddox in the first inning, putting the River Walkers up 2-0.
He hit another two-run shot, again off Maddox, in the fifth as part of a three-run inning as St. Louis shot its lead to 6-1.
Segura also had a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the third, giving him five RBIs for the game.
Segura has eight homers and 18 RBIs for the season, while batting .400.
Hunsicker allowed two runs on four hits over his six innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Ron Peterson held Evansville scoreless over the seventh and eighth.
Elian Acosta pretty much coasted through the ninth.

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MBL news: Week 2 -- Awards and standings

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Record: 10-4, 1st, 1.5 GA Kansas City
At least for a game, Wilson Lara made the St. Louis River Walkers regret having traded him in the offseason.
Lara, a second-year-player in the majors, limited the Walkers to one run over 6.1 innings as Springfield posted a 4-1 win at Oracle Park (2020, snapping an eight-game St. Louis win streak in the process.
Lara was part of the Walkers rotation as a rookie in 2030, going 11-9 with a 4.13 ERA in 29 starts. However, the left-hander was traded to Springfield in the offseason in a package to land second baseman Daniel Becerra.
Becerra has yet to play a game for the Walkers, as he recovers from an oblique injury he suffered during spring training.
The lone run Lara allowed came in the top of the seventh inning, and he wasn't on the mound when it happened.
Jared Thomas had doubled with one out, hastening Lara's exit.
Joseph King took over and allowed a Jean Carmona double, scoring Thomas to make it 3-1.
The Railers struck for a run in the first inning against St. Louis starter Kaneo Kawamoto.
Matthew Lugo, who would go 3 for 3 and score all of his team's runs, led off the game with a single.
He moved to second when Kawamoto made a wild pick-off throw to first.
Lugo moved to third on a Dylan Crews single.
He scored on an Alex Otero fly ball.
Two innings later, Lugo scored again.
This time he doubled with one out off Kawamoto and scored on a two-out single by Justin Schneider.
Lugo found the plate again in the fifth.
Kawamoto walked him to open the inning, and Schneider drove him in for the second time with a two-out double.
The Railers lead now 3-1, Lugo doubled with one out off Zach Evers and scored on a Dylan Crews' single.
King recorded the final two outs of the seventh for Springfield.
Alex Claudio pitched around a pair of hits to open the eighth, striking out two of the next three.
Mario Reyes worked the ninth to earn his fourth save.

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Record: 11-4, 1st, 2.5 GA Kansas City
Down 3-0, St. Louis exploded for seven runs in the top of the fifth inning -- courtesy of three home runs -- and the River Walkers rolled on for an 11-3 win over Springfield at Oracle Park (2020).
Railers starter Edwin Cora had cruised through the first four innings, not allowing a run and just two hits.
The fifth didn't start too badly for him either, as after Jared Thomas led off with a single he retired the next two.
But after he uncorked a wild pitch on his second throw to Jose Ramirez, everything seemed to go south.
Four pitches later, on a 3-1 count, Ramirez cracked a two-run homer.
Thairo Estrada followed with a triple on a 3-2 pitch.
He scored when Jose Segura clobbered a 2-2 pitch, putting St. Louis in front 4-3.
Steve Rossi followed with a single. He scored when Jean Carmona powdered a ball over the wall in left as the Walkers lead grew to 6-3.
That was the end of Cora's outing.
The Walkers, however, were not done scoring.
Rick Scott greeted reliever Cristofe Tineo with a double.
He scored the inning's final run when Jared Thomas duplicated his double.
The other four St. Louis runs came in the seventh.
Scott hit his seventh homer of the season with a two-run shot off Jaden Foster.
Pitcher Lenyn Crisp later collected a pair of RBIs with a double to make it 11-3.
On the mound, Crisp (2-0) recovered nicely after allowing three runs over the first two innings.
He exited in the seventh, having allowed three runs on six hits.
Andres Hernandez finished off the seventh.
Ron Peterson and Zach Evers closed out the game with scoreless innings.

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Record: 11-5, 1st, 2.5 GA Des Moines and Kansas City
John Haynes shut out St. Louis over the first seven innings and Alex Otero hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning to give Springfield the lead, and the Railers went on to a 7-1 win at Oracle Park (2020).
The win gave Springfield wins in the first and last games of the three-game series.
Haynes (2-2) scattered seven hits over his seven innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Cristofe Tineo worked a scoreless eighth.
Dalvin Rosario did give up a homer to Jordan Groshans in the ninth, but by that time his team led 7-0.
Otero drove in the first two of those runs with a homer off St. Louis starter Angel Tiburcio in the fourth inning.
The Railers later busted it open with four runs against the Walkers' bullpen in the seventh.
The inning featured a pair of errors by St. Louis -- Groshans at third base and relief pitcher Yeison Santos -- which led directly to runs.
Riley Greene had an RBI single off Santos. Dylan Crews drove in a run with a fly ball off Andres Hernandez.
Austin Schultz knocked in a run with a single off Hernandez in the eighth.

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Record: 11-6, 1st, 1 GA Kansas City
St. Louis jumped out to a 4-0 lead, only to have that advantage vanish in a flurry of long ball -- Kansas City hit seven homers over a span of four innings -- as the Monarchs downed the River Walkers 8-5 at Royals Stadium (1973).
Homers helped power the Walkers to their early lead.
Joshua Rivera hit a solo homer off KC starter Jose Buenrostro in the first inning, and Steve Rossi hit one worth two runs in the third to help St. Louis gain its 4-0 lead.
But the Monarchs went to work quickly against Walkers starter Izzy San Juan in bottom of the the third.
The inning's second batter, Ryan West, hit a two-run homer.
After that, Jason Gillem and Blaze Jordan went back-to-back to tie the game.
In the fourth, Danny Cushing put KC in front with a lead-off homer.
Logan Tanner cranked a solo shot off reliever Ron Peterson with two outs in the fifth, making it 6-4 Kansas City.
Peterson surrendered two more solo homers in the sixth -- pinch-hitter Cory Acton led off with one, Jordan hit his second of the game with two outs -- as the Monarchs climbed ahead 8-4.
Buenrostro lasted just four innings, allowing four runs on six hits. He did strike out six and walk none.
Bill Brooks (1-0) pitched a pair of scoreless innings to earn the win.
Javier Assad, Nate Guthrie and Matt Broussard all took care of an inning.
Broussard earned his first save of the season.

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Record: 12-6, 1st, 2 GA Kansas City
Steve Rossi went 3 for 5 with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs against his former team, as St. Louis downed Kansas City 5-1 at Royals Stadium (1973).
Traded to the River Walkers during the 2030 season, Rossi led off the top of the sixth with a homer off Monarchs starter Dominic Pipkin to snap a 1-1 tie.
An inning, he connected on a two-run double off Leon Hermosillo to make it 4-1.
Jose Ramirez banged out an RBI single off Tony Locey in the eighth to make the 5-1 final.
St. Louis starting pitcher Zack Hunsincker (3-0) allowed one run on three hits over six innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Andres Hernandez pitched a scoreless seventh.
Zach Evers, Elian Acosta and Cory Tiller all recorded two outs apiece to close out the game.
Tiller earned his first save.