Ogando shuts down Springfield

NW ARKANSAS 4, SPRINGFIELD 1

SPRINGDALE — It was evident early on Emilio Ogando had his best stuff during Northwest Arkansas’ 4-1 win against Springfield at Arvest Ballpark on Tuesday.

Ogando, the Naturals’ crafty left-handed pitcher, sawed-off Cardinals clean-up hitter Juan Mieses’ bat, snapping it in half, with a cut fastball on the inner half of the plate during the first inning. Two pitches later, Ogando finished off Mieses with a running fastball — moving away from the right-handed batter, instead of toward him like the cutter — for a strikeout looking.

Ogando didn’t allow a hit until Mieses lined a single to left field to lead off the seventh inning. Through seven complete innings, Ogando struck out five and walked two while receiving defensive help by a pair of double plays and a backhand and long throw by shortstop Erick Mejia. The only non-groundout of the remaining outs was a popup to first to end the third inning. In fact, Mieses’ hit was the first ball to reach the outfield off of Ogando. It was Ogando’s Texas League-leading 11th win and he’s now won a career-best six consecutive starts.

Samir Duenez smacked a two-run homer over the center field wall to give Ogando plenty of cushion and the Naturals a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. They added two more runs in the fifth when Kort Peterson hit an RBI single and later scored on a base hit by Mejia.

Springfield ended the Naturals’ shutout bid with a two-out, RBI single by Jon Nogowoski in the ninth inning.