Travelers get relief on mound, at plate

Solid relief pitching and timely hitting contributed to the Arkansas Travelers’ second victory of the season Sunday.

The Travs opened their three-game series against the San Antonio Missions with an 8-2 victory in front of an announced crowd of 5,157 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Arkansas lost two of three to Corpus Christi to begin the season, but responded

Sunday with 12 hits against the Missions.

Brett Ash (1-0), a righthander, pitched five innings

of scoreless relief of left-hander Kyle Hunter, allowing four hits with one strikeout in his first appearance of the season for the Travs, the Class AA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. He had 51 pitches, 35 for strikes.

“Brett came in and did a nice job,” Travs Manager Daren Brown said. “He was very efficient with his pitches. He pitched to contact. I didn’t expect him to come in and finish the ballgame, but with where he was at after the seventh and eighth inning, he deserved to go finish it.”

Four Travelers had two hits. Tyler Marlette was 2 for 3 with an RBI double. Ryan Casteel went 2 for 4 and drove in 2 runs. Jay Baum and Joey Wong also had two hits apiece.

The Travs took a 5-2 lead with three runs in the sixth inning.

Marlette led off with a base hit. Chantz Mack walked to put runners on first and second and no outs. Kyle Petty struck out, then Wong hit a line-drive ground-rule double down the right-field line to score Marlette for a 4-3 lead.

Brock Hebert followed with an RBI single and Ian Miller’s sacrifice fly made it 5-2.

Arkansas added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh for an 8-2 advantage.

Kyle Waldrop walked, Casteel singled and Marlette doubled them in to make it 6-2. Mack’s RBI single stretched the Travs’ lead to 7-2. Marlette scored the Travs’ eighth run

when Petty grounded into a double play.

The Travs were held to one run in two of their first three games. They had one run on two hits in Saturday’s 6-1 loss to Corpus Christi, so Sunday’s game was one Brown was glad to see.

“Our guys did a nice job of laying off tough pitches and got some good pitches to hit,” Brown said. “We didn’t miss them.”

San Antonio took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Noah Perio’s first home run, which landed on the berm in left field.

The Travs tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning. Baum doubled to left center, Waldrop singled to left and Casteel drove both runners in with a double to right off San Antonio starter Brett Kennedy.

Alberth Martinez went 2 for 3 for the Missions, the San Diego Padres’ Class AA affiliate.

Justin Hancock (0-1) allowed 3 runs on 3 hits in 2 innings and took the loss. Kennedy started for the Missions, giving up 2 runs and 6 hits in 4 innings. He struck out six.