Miller’s homer leads to win for Naturals

NW ARKANSAS 8, TULSA 0

TULSA, Okla. — Anderson Miller hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning, leading the Northwest Arkansas Naturals to an 8-0 win over the Tulsa Drillers on Saturday.

The home run by Miller, part of a five-run inning, broke a scoreless tie before Nate Esposito scored on an error and Dairon Blanco scored on a single later in the inning.

The Naturals later scored three runs in the ninth to put the game away.

Starter Jackson Kowar (2-4) got the win while Justin De Fratus (6-8) took the loss in relief in the Texas League game.

The Drillers were held off the scoreboard for the seventh time this season, while the Naturals’ staff recorded their fourth shutout of the year.

Right-hander Kowar continued the series-theme of dominate starting pitching with his start on Saturday night.

The 22-year old righthander, shoved for a career-best eight innings of four-hit, shutout baseball with six strikeouts as the offenses aided him with eight runs.

Kowar (2-4, 3.02 ERA) knew it would a good night early.

After the lead-off hitter worked his way to third with one-out in the bottom of the first inning, the infield pulled itself in.

Kowar induced a groundball to second baseman, Gabriel Cancel who stabbed the hard grounder on a backhand, threw to the plate to cut down the runner, keeping the Drillers scoreless in the first inning.

The 22-year old took off from there, retiring the next seven straight hitters and 10 of the next 11 through four innings of two-hit, shutout baseball.