Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Naturals shut out Missions
SPRING DALE— Locked in a pitcher’s duel, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals made all the right plays.
Foster Griffin was brilliant in his second start of the season, and three pitchers came out of the bullpen to finish off a 4-0 shutout of San Antonio before an Education Day crowd of 4,291 on Tuesday afternoon at Arvest Ballpark.
The win salvaged the final game of a three-game series against San Antonio and the final game of the six- game home stand to open the season.
“It wasn’t just a win; it was a good win,” Naturals manager Mike Rojas said. “It was a good performance, team-wise.”
Griffin was matched against San Antonio’s Cal Quantrill in a duel of former first-round draft picks in the series finale as the Missions went for the sweep.
San Antonio touched Griffin for base hits to lead off the first, second and third innings, but Griffin coaxed double-play grounders all three innings.
“It’s letting your defense work,” Rojas said. “He attacked the zone and having trust in the guys to make the plays, and they did, three clutch double plays to get out of jams.”
The middle infield of shortstop Nicky Lopez and second baseman Erick Mejia turned all three, ending the first inning and then immediately following the leadoff hitters in the second and third innings.
Northwest Arkansas took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the fourth inning. Elier Hernandez opened with a base hit but was forced by Samir Duenez, the clean- up hitter, who then swiped second.
After a strikeout, Donnie Dewees grounded a single through the hole between short and third to score Duenez ahead of the off- line throw to the plate.
Alex Liddi gave the Naturals a 2-0 lead with a homer over the bullpen in the seventh inning, and Corey Toups doubled home Lopez and Hernandez in the eighth inning for a couple of cushion runs.
SHORT HOPS
■ Naturals starter Foster Griffin improved to 4-2 in day games over the last two seasons with Northwest Arkansas and now has an earned run average of 2.31 under the sun.
■ The crisply played game hit the one-hour mark when San Antonio was batting in the top of the fifth inning.
■ Tuesday was the first of three Education Days at Arvest Ballpark when school groups receive discounted tickets. The Van Buren ROTC presented the colors for the National Anthem.
On Deck: The Naturals are off today before beginning a six-game road swing through the Lone Star State with the first stop at Corpus Christi on Thursday night.
On The Air: KQSM-FM 92.1
On The Web: www.nwa naturals.com
TRAVELERS 4, HOOKS 3
Joey Curletta drove a game- tying, three- run, 399- foot home run onto Willow Street in the bottom of the ninth.
The baseball sailed past the scoreboard in left field at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, which had only seconds before recorded the Arkansas Travelers’ offensive ineptitude.
When Curletta stepped to the plate against Corpus Christi Hooks right-handed reliever Erasmo Pinales, Travs batters had struck out 11 times and the team had more walks (6) than hits (2).
“Well, he gave me that first slider in the dirt and that was nine straight balls,” said the 6-4, 245-pound first baseman, who hit his first home run after being called up from Class High-A Modesto after hitting 15 home runs for the Nuts in 2017. “I wasn’t going to let him sneak a gimme fastball over the plate, so I sold out on it. Crushed it.”
Four batters later, right fielder Beau Amaral hit a walk-off single as the Travs won 4-3 over the Hooks to sweep their three-game series.
Pinales (0-1, 9.00 ERA) earned the loss, and Travs right-hander Art Warren (1-0, 6.75) earned the victory after pitching 11/ relief innings with 1 hit, 2 3 earned runs, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.
Travs right-handed starter Andrew Moore (0-0, 0.77) threw a career-high 10 strikeouts after pitching 6 innings with 2 hits, a walk and no earned runs.
Hooks left fielder Yordan Alvarez drove in the first run of the game with a 409-foot home run to right field in the top of the seventh inning.
Corpus Christi right- hander Josh James (0-0, 2.25 ERA) was pitching a no-hitter when he was pulled after the fifth inning, when he had nine strikeouts and two walks.
Amaral broke up the no-hitter with a single in the bottom of the sixth against Hooks left-handed reliever Sean Stutzman.
Travs center fielder Braden Bishop kept the Travs within striking distance with his defensive plays against Yuli Gurriel, who the Houston Astros sent to Corpus Christi on April 5 for a rehab assignment for his surgically repaired left hand.
Gurriel hit the ball deep twice in the game. In the first inning, he forced Bishop
to backpedal deep into center field. Bishop rotated and caught the ball as he slammed into the padded door on the outfield wall, which swiveled inward on impact.
Then in the top of the seventh, Bishop robbed Gurriel again, making a sliding catch on the warning track in left-center field.
The Travs left nine men on base, and they left the bases loaded in the seventh, when Bishop struck out to end the inning.
The Travs have more walks than hits in four of their six games. The ratio through the first two series of the season (39 walks, 42 hits) is a stark difference from the ratio through the first two series of last season (19 walks, 45 hits).
Travs hitting coach Roy Howell said the two pillars of the team’s hitting philosophy are “controlling the zone” and “hitting the fastball.”