After losing eight of their past nine games, the Tulsa Drillers were looking for a spark with the Texas League playoffs less than two weeks away.
Instead of a spark, Dustin Garneau provided the Drillers with an explosion on Sunday night.
Pinch-hitting in the seventh inning, Garneau smashed a grand slam over the left-field wall and the Drillers held on to beat Springfield 10-8 in front of 4,110 fans at ONEOK Field.
"I was just trying to swing at the first good pitch I saw," said Garneau. "I swung through the first one (pitch) and he came back with the same pitch so I had a good look at it."
With the bases loaded, Juan Crousset's third base hit of the night scored Tyler Kuhn to give Tulsa a 6-5 lead and set the stage for Garneau.
"It's always good when you can help your team win and luckily I came through," said Garneau, who has seven of his 12 home runs in the last month and a half.
Drillers manager Kevin Riggs said using Garneau was not a spur of the moment decision.
"Prior to the inning, we knew we were going to use him (Garneau) if the lefty (Springfield reliever) was in there," said Riggs.
Springfield did indeed call on Danny Miranda, who turned 23 on Sunday, to start the seventh inning but Tulsa greeted him with four hits before the Cardinals could get the second out of the inning.
The five-run seventh for Tulsa (63-67, 29-33 second half) came after Springfield had erased the Drillers' 5-2 lead in the top of the inning.
Tulsa starter Christian Bergman looked strong through the first six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, but Springfield came through with four hits in the seventh, the biggest of which was a 2-RBI single by pinch-hitter Starlin Rodriguez that tied the game.
"It's been a tough stretch but this team just keeps fighting and grinding," said Riggs.
Springfield (64-66, 31-31) cut the lead in half in the ninth when Ruben Gotay hit a two-run homer with two outs, his 16th long ball of the year.
Drillers closer Cole White came on to get the final out and record his 17th save of the season.
RBIs from Delta Cleary Jr., Angelys Nina, Kyle Parker and Bergman helped Tulsa build a 5-2 lead after four innings.
Micahel Solbach (2-1) came out of the bullpen and retired the final two batters of the seventh to earn the win for Tulsa while Miranda (0-1) took the loss for Springfield.
The Drillers will close out their regular-season home schedule on Monday night against the Cardinals with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Pro - Drillers
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