TEXAS LEAGUE

Pena helps Travelers limit Naturals to one hit

— The Northwest Arkansas Naturals proved they could win with two hits Friday, but their one hit Saturday was not enough against the Arkansas Travelers.

Right-hander Ariel Pena allowed the one hit andpitched six scoreless innings to help the Travelers shut out the Naturals 4-0 before 5,281 fans at Arvest Ballpark.

The Tr a v e l e r s scored tworuns in the fourth inning off a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch, and shortstop Jean Segura did the rest of the offensive damage with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly and his sixth home run of the year in the eighth inning.

Northwest Arkansas’ one hit matched a franchiserecord low. The Naturals had been held to one hit twice previously, most recently Aug. 9, 2009.

The Naturals have been shut out on the road twice this year, but Saturday’s game was their first shutout loss at home this season.

Nick Van Stratten had the Naturals’ only hit, a single up the middle off Pena in the bottom of the third inning. The Naturals left a runner stranded on third base in each of the first two innings and did not have anyone advance past first after that.

“He competed very well,” Travelers Manager Mike Micucci said of Pena, who is ranked by Baseball America as the Los Angeles Angels’ No. 9 prospect. “He kept his poise out there and he made pitches when he needed to.”

Pena (5-4) struck out 7 batters, including 4 over the first 2 innings, and walked just 2. That came one day after Travelers starter Johnny Hellweg took the loss despite allowing just 1 run and 2 hits in 7 innings against the Naturals.

“You look at last night and tonight, those are two of the best pitchers in the league,” Naturals Manager Brian Poldberg said. “We got three hits in two nights and got a win, but you’ve got to tip your hat to [Pena]. He threw the ball well, and John threw the ball well last night.”

Caleb Graham followedPena with two scoreless, hitless innings, and Kevin Johnson retired the Naturals in order in the bottom of the ninth to close it out.

Segura, the Angels’ No. 2 prospect, made three errors Friday night and one more Saturday but finished 1 for 2 with 2 RBI at the plate to counter the defensive miscues.

“I thought he made some good defensive plays later in the game,” Micucci said of the 22-year-old Segura. “He did a much better job. He charged one ball, a high chopper, and went to the hole a couple of times and made some big, strong throws. So that was good to see.”

Travelers designated hitter Casey Haerther went 3 for 4 with a double.

Each of the Travelers’ first four batters in the top of the fourth inning reached base, allowing them to take a 2-0 lead.

Renny Osuna walked to lead off the fourth, advanced to third on a soft line drive to left by Roberto Lopez and scored when Ryan Mount hit into a fielder’s choice. Mount went to third on Haerther’s single to left and scored on awild pitch by Naturals starter Noel Arguelles.

The Travelers added a run in the top of the fifth inning when Travis Witherspoon lined a two-out triple off the center-field wall and scored on Segura’s sacrifice fly to right, making it 3-0.

Arkansas scored its final run on a home run to right by Segura in the top of the eighth inning.

Arguelles (2-7) allowed 3 runs off 4 hits in 6 innings and took the loss.

Today’s game ARKANSAS TRAVELERS

AT NW ARKANSAS NATURALS WHEN 6 p.m.

WHERE Arvest Ballpark, Springdale RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas; KQSM, 92.1-FM, in NW Arkansas INTERNET travs.com and nwanaturals.com PITCHERS Arkansas: Mike Piazza, (RHP, 1-2, 2.81 ERA); NW Arkansas: Michael Mariot (RHP, 3-2, 4.34) SHORT HOPS Nine of the Naturals’ past 10 victories going into Saturday had been by one run, and each of their past 11 had been by two runs or less. ... The Travelers entered Saturday with a .223 batting average in June, the lowest among all 30 Class AA teams. ... The Texas League All-Star Game will be played at 7:05 p.m. Thursday at OneOK Field in Tulsa.

TRAVS WEEK AHEAD TODAY at NW Arkansas, 6 p.m.

MONDAY at NW Arkansas, noon TUESDAY Off WEDNESDAY Off THURSDAY Off FRIDAY vs. Midland, 7:10 p.m.

SATURDAY vs. Midland, 7:10 p.m.

NATURALS WEEK AHEAD TODAY vs. Arkansas, 6 p.m.

MONDAY vs. Arkansas, noon TUESDAY Off WEDNESDAY Off THURSDAY Off FRIDAY at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.

SATURDAY at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.

Sports, Pages 26 on 06/24/2012

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