SPRINGDALE — Salvador Perez hit his second grand slam in three days and Northwest Arkansas remained the hottest team in the Texas League with a 10-1 victory against Tulsa before 3,890 fans in Arvest Ballpark Tuesday night.
Northwest Arkansas (17-14) has won nine of its last 10 games.
Rey Navarro followed Perez’s grand slam with a solo home run as the Naturals scored seven times in the third inningfor a 10-0 lead. Perez is now 10-for-16 with three home runs and 15 RBIs in his last four games.
Naturals starter Chris Dwyer(4-9, 6.34 ERA) turned in one of his best pitching efforts of the year as the left-hander struckout nine and gave up three hits and one run in eight innings of work. Dwyer retired the Drillers in order six times and issued just one walk.
THE LINGO
“The guys have responded. We have pitching, we have hitting and we have defense for the most part. We just have to go out an reprove ourselves.”
-- BRIAN POLDBERG, Naturals manager
SHORT HOPS
No. 6 Royals prospect Christian Colon was given the night off Tuesday. Colon has played in 90 of the Naturals 98 games thisseason, including 73 starts at shortstop, 11 at designated hitter and six at second base. Colon is batting .252 on the year with 52 RBIs.
Naturals reliever Patrick Keating has been placed on the seven-day disabled (shoulder stiffness) list retroactive to July 25. It is Keating’s second stint on the DL in the last month.
EXTRA BASES: Naturals outfielder Nick Francis started the offensive explosion with a two-run double in the first. Anthony Seratelli then followed with the first of two run-scoring singles to up the lead to 3-0. ... Naturals designated hitter Jamie Romak saw his 13-game hitting streak end. ... Jeff Bianchi was 3-for-4 as the Naturals outhit theDrillers 9-4.
ROYALS PIPELINE: Triple-A Omaha second baseman Johnny Giavotella continues to make the case for a call up to Kansas City. Giavotella is batting .343, including .467 in his last 10 games. In that span, Giavotella has had seven multihit games.
ON DECK: Today: Tulsa atNorthwest Arkansas, 7 p.m. Tulsa, RHP Rob Scahill, 8-7, 4.31 ERA; Northwest Arkansas, Jake Odorizzi, 2-0, 4.76 ERA
ON THE AIR: KQSM-FM 92.1.
ON THE WEB: www.nwanaturals.com.
Sports, Pages 9 on 07/27/2011