DeCarlo’s 10th-inning single lifts Travelers over Drillers

TRAVELERS 4, DRILLERS 3 (10)

Joe DeCarlo hit a walk-off single to give the Arkansas Travelers a 10-inning, 4-3 victory over the Tulsa Drillers on Tuesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

The third baseman already had two singles in the game when he stepped to the plate with a runner at second, and his ground ball single past second base gave the Travs a victory to open their eightgame homestand.

“After the first strike, I felt myself swinging too hard,” said DeCarlo, who went 3 for 5 with an RBI. “I just tried to dial it back and see the ball a little bit longer. Once he showed me all his pitches, I felt pretty comfortable there [at] 2-2, kind of ready for whatever.”

The Travs remain a halfgame behind the Springfield Cardinals in the Texas League North standings with 13 games remaining in the first half of the season.

The first-half winners in the Texas League’s North and South divisions both automatically qualify for the playoffs.

Both the Travs and the Drillers used five pitchers Tuesday night, and righthander Matt Festa (2-2, 2.79 ERA) earned the victory after pitching a scoreless 10th inning.

The Travs led twice: once in the third after an RBI single by first baseman Joey Curletta set Arkansas ahead 1-0, and again in the seventh when right fielder Eric Filia hit an RBI single to regain a 3-2 lead.

Arkansas added another run in the fourth, when Drillers starting left-hander Devin Smeltzer threw a wild pitch, which brought home Travs second baseman Chris Mariscal from third.

The Drillers tied the game twice with home runs.

First baseman Joe Connor hit a 379-foot home run to

right field in the sixth to tie it 2-2, and right fielder Yusniel Diez hit a 412-foot home run to left field, which eventually skipped onto Willow Street.

Diez’s home run tied the game 3-3 in the eighth, and he slowly jogged around the bases after flipping his bat into the infield.

“We had a couple one-run leads there,” Travs Manager Daren Brown said. “Just weren’t able to keep them in the ballpark. It was big that Festa came in there in the bottom of the 10th and didn’t let them score.”

Travs starting right-hander Williams Perez pitched 5 innings with 3 hits, an unearned run, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.

On Tuesday morning, the Seattle Mariners signed Perez and left-hander Daniel Schlereth to minor league contracts and assigned them to Class AA Arkansas.

Schlereth, 32, spent nearly a month pitching for the independent-league Long Island Ducks.

Perez, a former starter for the Atlanta Braves, was released by the Chicago Cubs on Feb. 23. He pitched two games for the independent-league Southern Illinois Miners on May 19 and May 25.

The signings come two days after Travs left-hander Anthony Misiewicz (1-5, 4.97) was placed on the seven-day disabled list Sunday with what Brown only described as “elbow pain.”

Brown said Misiewicz tweaked the elbow in his May 30 start at Midland, and that “he’s feeling better” and will “hopefully throw a bullpen on Thursday.”

Right-hander Johendi Jiminian will also be returning from the seven-day disabled list today after his wife gave birth to their child.