Travelers rally in 9th, top rival

LITTLE ROCK — Getting spotted four runs should be enough most nights, and for the Arkansas Travelers, it was.

But barely.

As the Travelers have learned all too well, no lead against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals is safe.

Arkansas opened its four game series with the Naturals with a 7-6 victory Monday before 3,702 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, but only after surrendering a 4-0lead and getting a game-winning two-run single by Jeremy Moore in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Naturals entered Monday having taken 15 of 20 games from Arkansas.

“You’re not going to get it done every time,” Northwest Arkansas Manager Brian Poldberg said. “It was a tough way to lose.”

It seemed like a night for the Travelers. Arkansas took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when newcomer Charlton Jimerson, playing his first game at Dickey-Stephens Park, singled to left field tobring home Tyson Auer.

Jimerson, an outfielder with major league experience who was signed by the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend, made an impact in the fourth inning as well, scoring from first on a single by Ryan Mount when he beat out a throw to home by right fielder Paulo Orlando.

“He plays the game hard,” Travelers Manager Bobby Magallanes said. “And he’s got one speed, and that’s 100 percent.”

After an error by Orlando put Mount and Efren Navarro into scoring position, Roberto Lopez hit a double to center field to score both and put the Travelers up 4-0.

And with the way Michael Anton was pitching, that looked to be enough.

Anton cruised through five shutout innings and had two outs in the sixth before he began struggling with his command.

Recent call-up Eric Hosmer took advantage, hitting a two-run home run that cut Arkansas’ lead in half.

“Mike’s done that,” Magallanes said.

“He’ll throw some good innings, then all of a sudden he hits that wall. But it was a positive outing. He left with the lead.”

Reliever Jeremy Haynes got the Travelers out of the inning without further incident, but he also ran into command problems, walking Chris McConnell to load the bases in the seventh.

Magallanes brought in left-hander Robert Fish for Haynes, but it didn’t help, with Fish giving up a game tying two-run single to Jerrod Dyson.

Arkansas’ luck didn’t get better in the bottom of the inning, with the Travelers getting runners in scoring position only for Moore to make the final out of the inning on a close play at first.

Magallanes and first-base coach Francisco Matos argued with first base umpire Jeff Gosney, with Matos getting ejected from the game.

Hosmer then led off the eighth inning with a double to left field, and later scored off a sacrifice fly by Orlando to give Northwest Arkansas a 5-4 lead.

He came through again in the ninth with a single to score Dyson.

But Naturals reliever Brandon Sisk began the ninth inning by allowing back-to back singles to Julio Perez and Carlos Colmenares. A single from Auer closed the Naturals’ lead to 6-5, and Alexi Amarista loaded the bases for Moore after a bunt single off reliever Rowdy Hardy.

Then came Moore, who hit a sharp ground ball past McConnell at shortstop to score two runs.

“It’s funny,” Moore said. “My manager walked up to me and told me ‘I want you to get on top of this and hit it through the six hole.’ And that’s exactly what happened. So it was kind of weird.”