Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Naturals fall
The Arkansas Travelers didn’t get cheated at the plate in their fourgame series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Arkansas scored 11 more runs Tuesday afternoon against Northwest Arkansas pitching for a total of 38 for the series, taking the victory.
SPRINGDALE — The Arkansas Travelers didn’t get cheated at the plate in their four-game series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
Arkansas scored 11 more runs Tuesday afternoon against Northwest Arkansas pitching for a total of 38 for the series, taking an 11-4 victory and winning three out of four games in front of 3,975 fans at Arvest Ballpark.
Even in their only loss of the series — a 10-9 setback on Sunday — the Travelers still swung the bats pretty well.
“Obviously we’re a little bit different club than what we were earlier in the year,” said Travelers manager Daren Brown. “Our guys as of late, when we’ve gotten good pitches to hit, we haven’t missed them.”
The Travelers ( 29- 33) turned a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead with a five-run third inning, aided by a pair of Naturals errors.
Northwest Arkansas (3231) had a chance to get out of the inning with a 2-1 lead, but a fielding error by first baseman Samir Duenez and a throwing error by Carlos Diaz on the same play allowed two runs to score. Duenez booted the ball at first and it bounced to Diaz, who made a wild throw, allowing Arkansas to score two runs.
Keury De La Cruz ripped a two-run single later in the inning as the Travelers took a 5-2 lead and ended the start by Naturals right-hander Corey Ray (4-4), who lasted only 22/ innings.
The big blow came in the
fourth when Tyler Marlette hit a grand slam — a mammoth shot off the roof of the Bud Light Cafe beyond left field — as Arkansas took a 9-2 lead.
“Obviously we made a couple of defensive mistakes, and then I thought we lost our motion pitching-wise,” Naturals manager Vance Wilson said. “We didn’t execute. They’re a good team. They’ve made some changes, and they’re a good team. They came in here and whooped us a little bit, but with that being said it’s a new series starting tomorrow.”
Tempers flared between the two teams when Marlette came back to the plate in the fifth. Naturals reliever Andrew Edwards threw two straight pitches inside to Marlette, with the second going to the backstop and allowing a run to score. Edwards and Marlette barked at each other, and both benches cleared with Edwards being ejected from the ballgame.
Dylan Unsworth (5-5) got the win for the Travelers. Unsworth gave up a pair of runs in the second inning but pitched five straight scoreless frames with only two hits allowed the rest of the game.
Dario Pizzano finished with four hits — all singles — for the Travelers, while De La Cruz had three hits and two RBIs.
SHORT HOPS
■ An odd play occurred in the second inning when Donnie Dewees Jr. batted in the fifth spot in the lineup. It was peculiar because Dewees also batted second in the first inning. The Naturals batted out of order, but the error was not caught or protested by the Travelers. The first inning batter should have been Alfredo Escalara. Dewees made an out in both plate appearances in the first and second innings. The lineup given to the pressbox had Dewees batting second, but he batted fifth the rest of the game.
■ Dewees was named the Texas League Player of the Week for June 5-11, the league announced Tuesday. In six games, Dewees hit .391 (9 for 23) with two home runs, two doubles and six RBIs. Dewees is the first Natural to earn the honor since Frank Schwindel during the 2016 season.
■ Naturals reserve catcher Luis Villegas threw a perfect ninth inning for the Naturals.
On Deck: The Naturals embark on a 13-game road trip beginning with the first game in a five-game series tonight at 7:05 at Tulsa. The Naturals won’t play again at home until June 29 when they host Corpus Christi. Left-hander Foster Griffin (2-1, 2.84 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound for the Naturals, while Tulsa had not announced a starter.
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