Five-run hole in 1st dooms Travs’ winning streak

The Arkansas Travelers’ four-game winning streak came to an end at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock on Friday night.

The Springfield Cardinals rushed to the lead with five first-inning runs that were more than adequate in an 8-3 victory before an announced crowd of 5,021.

The Travs pulled to within two runs by the end of the fourth inning, a circumstance Springfield Manager Johnny Rodriguez expected.

“I didn’t think they were just going to roll over,” he said. “I thought they would do what they did. They come back, and they get good atbats, and they battle. They have a very good offensive club. Actually, I fear them as much offensively as any club in this league.”

Travs right-handed starter Brett Ash had lost five of his

past six starts entering Friday, and Springfield added to his struggles.

Eight of 10 Springfield batters reached base in the first inning, including seven of the first eight. The first three scored, including second baseman Darren Seferina on designated hitter Bruce Caldwell’s blooper that dropped among two Arkansas infielders and right fielder Kyle Waldrop.

Ash responded by holding Springfield scoreless through

the next three innings, and Arkansas was within 5-3 with two runs in the third inning and a run in the fourth, highlighted by third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean’s RBI triple and first baseman Ryan Casteel’s leadoff home run in the fourth.

The Travs got to Springfield right-hander Zac Gallen, who started the game with an ERA of 2.35, for those three runs. He settled down to pitch through 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits while

striking out just 1.

Travs center fielder Ian Miller said Manager Daren Brown has put an emphasis on effort, which keeps the team battling no matter the score.

“If you play hard and do the right things, everything kind of works out,” Miller said. “I mean, they had a guy on the mound today who does a great job. He’s pretty nasty. I’ve faced him before. We were just trying to play hard. It just turned out that we didn’t end up on the winning side.”

“The fire to win, you want them to have that, but there’s a process to that first,” Brown said. “You have to take care of yourself first and play the way you need to, and at the end of the night, those things will take care of themselves.”

Springfield retook the momentum in the fifth inning.

Third baseman Jacob Wilson’s one-out double drove in left fielder Randy Arozarena and chased Ash. Brown called for left-handed reliever Kyle Hunter, but right fielder Magneuris Sierra — who arrived in North Little Rock a day after playing for the St. Louis Cardinals in New York against the Mets — singled to drive in Wilson to give Springfield a 7-3 lead.

Seferina led off Springfield’s sixth inning with a double. He scored after Travs’ shortstop Joey Wong misplayed a ground ball from first baseman John Nogowski to give the Cardinals an 8-3 lead.

“Sometimes we give up a lot of runs in one inning, give up runs the wrong way, and sometimes we score five or six and have that kind of big inning,” Miller said. “You don’t know when it’s going to happen, but we’re prepared for it on both ends.”

Miller, Casteel, second baseman Jeff Kobernus and left fielder Dario Pizzano had two hits apiece for the Travs.