Dollard steady in Travs’ victory

TRAVELERS 5, NATURALS 4

Nothing Taylor Dollard did was out of the ordinary Wednesday night.

The Seattle Mariners selected Dollard in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB Draft, and against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals he showed exactly why.

Dollard (1-1) threw 71/3 innings, allowing 3 runs, 1 earned, on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 batters as the Arkansas Travelers won 5-4 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Dollard, the Mariners’ No. 14 prospect, has been keeping opposing offenses quiet all season. He has yet to allow more than 1 earned run in 7 starts to give him a 0.92 ERA in 29 /3 innings with 27 strikeouts.1

With Dollard holding the Naturals’ offense at bay, the Travelers’ offense got the scoring started early with two runs in each the first and second innings.

In his first at-bat since hitting the game-winning single in Tuesday’s matchup, Zach DeLoach helped bring in the first two runs when the Naturals’ third baseman Jake Means dropped a pop-fly with two on and two outs in the first inning.

In the next inning, Jake Scheiner made it 4-0 with a two-run home run onto the berm in left field.

Naturals’ starter Angel Zerpa (0-1) wasn’t able to keep pace with Dollard, allowing 5 runs, 3 earned, on 6 hits and 3 walks in 42/3 innings before being replaced by Zach Phillips.

Zerpa’s final batter was Cade Marlowe, who hit a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning for what would become the deciding run.

In similar fashion to the Travelers’ efforts the night prior, the Naturals attempted a comeback of their own, starting in the eighth inning.

With Dollard under 100 pitches, he went out to begin the eighth, but the pitch count started to catch up with him as two of the first three batters reached base, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Sean McGrath. The next batter, Maikel Garcia, brought in Dollard’s lone earned run with a single.

The Travelers bullpen allowed 3 runs in relief of Dollard, but Michael Stryffeler got the save despite allowing a run in the ninth inning to give Dollard his first win in seven starts.