Big sixth helps Missions beat Naturals

MISSIONS 7, NATURALS 2

SPRINGDALE — The San Antonio Missions have had their share of big innings this season.

Thursday night, they had another one.

San Antonio scored five runs in the sixth inning, carrying the Missions to a 7-2 win over Northwest Arkansas in front of 2,846 at Arvest Ballpark in the opener of a three-game series.

San Antonio (4-3 second half, 46- 31 overall) broke open a tie game with the big sixth inning.

Josh Naylor opened with a double down the right-field line and went on to third on an error on the play. After a ground out, Austin Allen singled Naylor home for a 2-1 lead. Kyle Overstreet reached on an infield single, and after a second out, Matt Batten single home Allen. Michael Gettys followed with his 11th homer, a threerun job, into the right-field bullpen for a 6-1 lead.

“Those are always nice, especially in a close ball game,” San Antonio Manager Phillip Wellman said. “It’s the same lineup, though, that at times has had just three hits.”

The inning marked the eighth time this season in which the Missions have scored at least five runs.

“It does have a chance of being an explosive lineup,” Wellman said. “You just never know from one game to the next.”

San Antonio took a 1- 0 lead in the opening inning on Allen’s sacrifice fly that scored Fernando Tatis, who started the game with an infield single.

“I was a little disappointed,” Wellman said. “In the first inning we loaded the bases with no out and only got one out of it. We have to do a better job of executing right there, but to our credit we stayed with it and had the big five-run inning. That’s always nice when you can stay ahead by more than four runs.”

Northwest Arkansas (1-4, 36-38) tied it up in the second inning on Anderson Miller’s solo homer and added another solo shot in the eighth inning by Jecksson Flores.

Those were the only runs off Miguel Diaz and Lake Bachar, who combined to allow just six hits in place of scheduled starter Jacob Nix.

“We had a starter finish the game for us,” Wellman said. “Our original starter had a medical issue that had to be taken care of. So, we used Diaz and Bachar. For them just to find out yesterday that they were going to be pitching today, I thought they did a helluva job.”

Naylor had three hits and was walked intentionally with first base open in the ninth inning. Batten also had a three-hit game.

SHORT HOPS

■ Gettys’ three-run homer was San Antonio’s eighth three-run clout of the season but Gettys’ first. ■ San Antonio is 18- 3 on the road when scoring five or more runs this year after Thursday’s victory.

■ Naylor’s three hits marked his 32nd multi-hit game this season, which leads San Antonio.

On Deck: The Naturals will start Arnaldo Hernandez (0-0, 0.00) in the second game of the home series against San Antonio, which will start Jesse Scholtens ( 5-1, 2.40). Hernandez will make his first appearance for the Naturals after going 6-4 with a 4.22 earned run average at Class A-Advanced Wilmington in 14 games with 12 starts. Scholtens was 1-1 in two April starts against Northwest Arkansas after giving up two runs in 12 innings and before being promoted to Class AAA El Paso in early May. After eight appearances in the Pacific Coast League and an ERA of 8.38, Scholtens is making his second appearance back at San Antonio.

Tonight’s Promotion: The Naturals celebrate Super Heroes Night today with the first 500 kids in attendance will receive a Naturals-themed Superhero cape courtesy of Arkansas Children’s Northwest. Superhero characters will be available on the concourse throughout the game for photos compliments of Spotlight Characters, which be leading a pregame parade on the field prior to the game for fans dressed as their favorite superheros. Today will be the first night of three featuring post-game fireworks during the six-game homestand. At the conclusion of the first inning, the Naturals organization, team mascots and J.B. Hunt employees will lead the crowd in a friendly wave toward Arkansas Children’s Northwest with fans waving their cellphone flashlights to the patients and families at ACN.

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