Almonte deals in win

TEXAS LEAGUE

NW ARKANSAS 10, SPRINGFIELD 2

SPRINGDALE — Miguel Almonte put up another string of zeroes and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals battered Springfield pitching for 12 hits in a 10-2 win Saturday night in Arvest Ballpark in front of 7,019 fans.

Almonte extended his scoreless inning streak to 16 consecutive innings. The right-hander has not allowed an earned run since May 1. He allowed just two hits and struck out two to raise his record to 4-1.

“He had all his pitches working,” Naturals manager Vance Wilson said. “It’s funny when you’re trying to develop a kid and there are certain pitch sequences you want. But he really is good. His fastball is electric. The kid has really come a long way.”

Almonte was dominant on the mound, but also had plenty of support as red-hot Balbino Fuenmayor continued to swing the hottest bat in the Texas League. Fuenmayor hit his league-leading ninth home run of the season in the third inning, a blast that cleared the party pavilion in left field.

The Naturals (23-12) scored single runs in each of the first four innings. Raul Mondesi, who was playing his third game since coming off the disabled list on Friday, showed off his dazzling speed in the first inning after he reached on a fielder’s choice. The 19-yearold shortstop stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Jorge Bonifacio’s RBI single.

“He’s a game-changer,” Wilson said of Mondesi. “There’s a lot of things we can teach, but you can’t teach speed. It puts pressure on the defense and typically defenses make mistakes when they try to rush. So to have that up there following Angel Franco, and you have (Terrance) Gore at the bottom of the order, there are times we have 9, 1, 2 with incredible speed.”

While Almonte was lightsout, Naturals’ left-handed reliever Sam Selman was also impressive over the final 2 1/3 innings, now allowing a hit with five strikeouts on 34 pitches. Selman struck out all three Cardinals in the ninth inning to end the game.

Extra Bases: The Naturals bashed five extra base hits, including an RBI triple into the right field corner by Alex Liddi in the eighth inning. It was Liddi’s fourth triple of the season. … Naturals first baseman Balbino Fuenmayor singled in the first

to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

On Deck: The two teams will square off at 2:05 p.m. today in the finale of the fourgame series. This is the fourth game of a lengthy homestand that will see the Naturals play 14 of their next 15 games in Arvest Ballpark. RHP Arturo Reyes (0-1) will take the mound for the Cardinals. No starter has been announced for the Naturals.

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On The Web: www.naturals.