Naturals slip by Travs again
SPRINGDALE — The Thunder Chickens did their best impression of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Friday night.
Wearing Thunder Chickens jerseys on “What Could Have Been Night” at Arvest Ballpark, the Naturals used another infield single in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the Arkansas Travelers for the second consecutive night.
This time it was Eric Duncan who came through for the Naturals, beating out a high chopper to Travelers reliever Daniel Tillman with the bases loaded to drive in Rey Navarro for a 5-4 victory before a crowd of 5,847.
The Naturals (32-27), who have won six in a row, beat the Travelers 6-5 on an infield single by Yem Prades in the bottom of the 10th inning Thursday.
“These guys are resilient and they keep battling,” said Naturals Manager Brian Poldberg, who was ejected for arguing a call in the eighth inning Friday. “You’ve got to tip your hat to them. Boy, they don’t give up.”
The first three games of the series, which ends today, have all been one-run victories for the Naturals.
“As bad as you feel because you come up short, you also feel pretty good because you’re playing in tight situations,” Travelers Manager Mike Micucci said. “On the development side of things, guys are learning how to play in pressure situations.”
The Travelers (23-36) broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the 10th inning on a sacrifice fly by Jean Segura that scored Darwin Perez, who had reached on a triple to center field.
The Naturals tied it in the bottom of the 10th when Christian Colon drew a basesloaded walk, and Duncan followed by beating out the decisive hit.
Naturals reliever Patrick Keating (2-0) earned the victory despite allowing the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, and Tillman (1-5) took the loss.
Johnny Whittleman hit his 10th home run of the season for the game’s first run in the second inning, then added an eighth-inning triple as he finished 4 for 5 to lead the Naturals.
The Travelers tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth on consecutive two-out singles by Ryan Mount, Casey Haerther and Roberto Lopez, whose base hit to left drove in the run.
Arkansas scored twice in the top of the eighth inning to take a 3-1 lead. Segura tripled in a run, and Renny Osuna followed with an RBI double to provide the two-run lead, but the Naturals tied it back up in the bottom of the inning with run-scoring hits by Mario Lisson and Julio Rodriguez.
Both starting pitchers had strong outings. Naturals left-hander Noel Arguelles allowed 1 run off 6 hits in 7 innings, and Travelers righthander Ariel Pena gave up 1 run off 8 hits in 6 innings, striking out 6.
Northwest Arkansas’ Thunder Chicken uniforms were a nod to the nickname that came in second in a name-the-team contest held prior to the Naturals’ inaugural season in 2008.
The jerseys were auctioned off during the game.