Rocky start peaks in middle innings
Starting right-hander Tyler Herb nearly escaped a rocky start Wednesday night, until he and the Arkansas Travelers unraveled in the fifth inning.
The Midland RockHounds scored three runs in the fifth, which helped them overcome a three-run deficit to win 7-5 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Right-hander Lou Trivino (5-0, 1.64 ERA) earned the victory after allowing 2 hits, no runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts in front of an announced crowd of 2,687.
Herb (2-2, 4.13 ERA) entered the game with two consecutive victories, but he labored through 41/3 innings with 5 hits, 3 earned runs, 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. Of his 90 pitches, 45 were balls.
“I wasn’t in the strike zone as much as I was the last two,” Herb said. “You can’t walk guys. When we walk guys, it kills momentum. You can’t do that as a starting pitcher. It doesn’t give the team a chance to win.”
A double play helped Herb escape the first with just one run allowed. He limited damage again in the second with 1 unearned run after walking 2 batters on 8 pitches.
RockHounds right-hander Joel Seddon retired his first seven batters — with three strikeouts — but began to struggle when he hit Travs
shortstop Joey Wong to lead off the third inning. Wong and the next two batters scored, with Kyle Waldrop driving in a run with a sacrifice fly. Waldrop now leads the Texas League with 33 RBI.
Third baseman Nelson Ward hit a two-run, 373-foot home run to right field, his first of the season, to give the Travs a 5-2 lead in the fourth inning.
“That’s our offense the past few weeks now,” Herb said. “They’ve put up a lot of runs. So, as long as we can keep the game within two to four runs as a pitching staff, I think we’re going to have a chance to win every time.”
In the fifth through seventh innings, Midland scored
five runs with 2 singles, 2 doubles, 2 walks and a triple. The Travs outfield contributed to the RockHounds’ surge.
Right-fielder Keury De La Cruz misjudged a line drive to right field in the fifth, which turned into an RBI double; three batters later, left-fielder Chuck Taylor came up short on a fly ball to left field, which turned into a 2 RBI double; and in the seventh, center fielder Ian Miller pulled up hurt after chasing a fly ball to center field, which turned into a triple.
Taylor said flyballs don’t generally carry in Dickey-Stephens Park, but the blustering winds gave the hits an extra push.
“We usually play in a little bit here,” said Taylor, who went 2 for 5 and leads the Texas League with a .351 batting average. “We want to take away all the little hits. But they hit it pretty good.”
Miller was replaced by Kyle Petty. The Travs had no further update on Miller’s status other than “muscle tightness.”
Midland second baseman Max Schrock, the Oakland A’s No. 16 prospect according to MLB.com, also left the game with a pulled hamstring. RockHounds Manager Fran Riordan said it wasn’t major.
The Travs remain in last place in the Texas League, but today they have a chance to win their second series in a row after losing 11 of their previous 14 games.
“We went through a rough little stretch,” Taylor said. “This series, we’ve been swinging the bats good, pitching all right. We’re doing pretty good. Better than we were.”