Cardinals back up Gast in win

Springfield Cardinals left-hander John Gast delivered yet another fine start, bulldogging his way through six innings.

Then, minutes after he registered a much-needed strikeout on his 102nd pitch, a rapid sequence of events -- keyed by the team's newly installed cleanup hitter -- made him a victor.

Aaron Luna, down from Triple-A Memphis a day after Alex Castellanos was traded, fed a six-run rally in working a two-out walk that got the bat into Zack Cox's hands, sending the Cardinals to a 7-1 victory against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

Cox's single broke a 1-all tie and Eric Duncan's three-run home run three batters later punctuated a night in which the Cardinals had more to thump their chests about than manager Pop Warner's unconventional lineup of seven left-handed batters, five in row.

"Or six from the bottom up, if you count (leadoff man Jim) Rapoport ," Warner said proudly.

His reaction was understandable as the team beat right-hander Jake Odorizzi, the gem of four Milwaukee Brewers acquired by the Kansas City Royals in the Zack Greinke offseason trade.

The Cardinals treated a Hammons Field crowd of 5,372 to their sixth win in seven games and also pulled to within two games of the Texas League North Division-leading Naturals with 33 games left on the schedule.

And they did it with Luna arriving less than two hours before the first pitch, the result of a delayed flight out of Memphis.

"I hit in the cage and was ready to roll," Luna said. "I'm coming down here trying not to do too much and help these guys."

In losing Castellanos in the big-league club's trade to acquire Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal, the Cardinals lost a .319 hitter with 19 home runs -- ideal protection between power hitters Matt Adams and Cox.

But Luna, voted a 2010 Texas League All-Star starting outfielder despite playing a reserve role all year, may foot the bill. Not only did he hit 10 home runs in Memphis, but he has a knack for getting on base.

He showed it Monday, working Odorizzi for 17 pitches in three plate appearances, including a six-pitch walk that set up Cox.

"He's going to give you a complete at-bat," Warner said.

Luna's walk was part of a wild series of events in which, at one point, Naturals manager Brian Poldberg reversed his decision -- he took a step out of the dugout with lefty reliever Brendan Lafferty in the bullpen -- to let Odorizzi face Cox, a .380 hitter in July.

Springfield clearly needed a boost, after Paulo Orlando's spectacular throw from deep right field eliminated Rapoport at third base after a flyout, a double play that nearly ruined the sixth.

"I'm glad he went," Warner said. "You want them to make a play on you."

Adams then singled and then Luna drew the walk.

"I didn't see it," Gast said of Orlando's play on Rapoport. "But we were thinking that we were going to have to start over."

Gast (3-1) did his part by outdueling Odorizzi (3-1), who had already faced Springfield twice and had a win against the Cardinals two weeks ago.

He ended a fifth-inning threat -- Orlando hit a one-out triple -- by striking out Nick Francis on his first curveball of the night, and escaped a sixth-inning jam by striking out Theriot, running in an inside fastball.

Overall, Gast used his fastball, both for effect and for strikeouts.

"I was just trying to go with my bread and butter," Gast said.