Naturals come back in ninth to beat Missions

NW ARKANSAS 4, SAN ANTONIO 3

SPRINGDALE — Alex Liddi couldn’t have asked for a better time to get a bucket of ice water dumped on him.

Liddi drove a hard grounder up the middle to cap a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth for a 4-3 win for the Naturals over San Antonio in front of 4,849 on a hot, muggy Saturday night.

“It feels good,” Liddi said. “It’s hot, so it feels real good.”

Northwest Arkansas (2-5 second half, 37-40 overall) trailed 3-1 going into the home half of the ninth.

Elier Hernandez walked on a 3-2 count off reliever Eric Yardley to start the rally.

Left- handed hitting left fielder Kort Peterson rifled a line drive down the left-field line into the corner, scoring Hernandez.

Kelvin Gutierrez singled up the middle to score Peterson and tie the game.

Anderson Miller followed with a hard single that San Antonio shortstop Fernandez Tatis backhanded but threw away with a sidearm throw to second, which allowed Gutierrez to advance to third.

Liddi grounded a hard single up the middle to score Gutierrez for the game-winner.

“Just focusing on trying to drive in a run,” Liddi said. “Trying to see the big part of the field and hopefully hit a line drive up the middle or a ground ball. I got lucky and hit a ground ball up the middle and got the job done.”

His Naturals teammates chased him around, celebrating the rally before dumping the bucket of ice on him.

Peterson struck out his first three at-bats before delivering the big double in the inning.

“After the first pitch, I told myself I needed to relax,” Peterson said. “I was trying to force too much that game. I was really feeling myself the first three at-bats, so last at-bat I told myself to relax and see it up. He was throwing sinkers. I got that pitch up and capitalized on it.”

The Naturals struck out 11 times through eight innings before Yardley, a side-arm almost submarine style pitcher, entered for the ninth.

Naturals hitting coach Leon Roberts gave Peterson some advice before his ninth-inning at-bat.

“You definitely don’t want to go fishing for balls low with a guy like that,” Peterson said. “Leon said see it up. I knew he was going to try to stay low in the zone and get some ground balls. I got that pitch up and there you go.”

Northwest Arkansas scored a run in the first on Erick Mejia’s double but then was blanked for seven innings.

Top prospect Khalil Lee, playing in his second game with the Naturals after a promotion from Class A-Advanced, was beaned, unintentionally, in the sixth inning and

left the game. He did leave on his own accord after his helmet landed out of the circle around home plate.

San Antonio’s Tatis, a 19-year-old and a prospect, slugged a pair of solo home runs.

SHORT HOPS

■ The Naturals improved to 8-4 on Saturdays this season with their fourth-straight Saturday win.

■ Northwest Arkansas won for the second time this season when trailing after eight innings.

■ The two teams played to a 4-3 decision for the second game in a row, splitting on Friday and Saturday.

On Deck: Emilio Ogando (4-4, 6.54) will start the series opener against Corpus Christi today. Corbin Martin (4-1, 2.72) earns the start for Corpus Christi. Today’s start will be the fourth career start for Ogando against the Hooks and second this season. He’s 2-0 with an earned run average of 3.27 with eight strikeouts and four walks against Corpus Christi. Martin was a second-round draft pick last year out of Texas A&M by the Houston Astros, which was a draft pick they received as compensation from the Cardinals for the hacking scandal. Martin was 7-4 with an earned run average of 3.80 at A&M in helping the Aggies to the College World Series in 2017.

Tonight’s Promotion: Coca-Cola will sponsor Naturals Emoji T-Shirt giveaway to the first 1,000 fans through the gates today. Kids will receive a free food voucher for a hot dog, animal crackers, Swedish fish, and a 12-ounce soda courtesy of Tyson Foods, Ball Park Buns, Mondelez International and Coca-Cola. Mercy Children’s Hospital will sponsor Family Sunday with kids running the bases following the game.

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