Kyle Zimmer, the Kansas City Royals’ first-round pick in 2012, won his Double-A debut for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 3-1, over the Springfield Cardinals on Saturday night before an announced crowd of 4,849 at Arvest Ballpark.
Zimmer (1-0), who was drafted fifth overall, pitched 6 scoreless innings, giving up 3 hits, striking out 7 and walking 1 while throwing 86 pitches. Zimmer had gone 4-8 with a 4.82 earned-run average, in 18 starts for Class A Wilmington. He had struck out 113 and walked 31 in 89 2/3 innings.
Andy Ferguson (Benton), Scott Alexander and Zach Jackson protected the lead for Zimmer with Ferguson allowing the Cardinals’ only run in the eighth inning. Jackson pitched around two hits in the ninth inning to pick up his 12th save of the season.
The Naturals scored all three of their runs in the first two innings.
Brett Eibner led off with a walk, Orlando Calixte doubled to center field before Brian Fletcher doubled to center to score Eibner and Calixte. Fletcher tried to take third on the play, but was thrown out.
In the second inning, Ray Navarro homered to right field to make it 3-0. Manny Pina and Angel Franco followed with walks, but Roman Hernandez grounded into a double play and Eibner struck out.
After that, the Naturals had only one more hit whenPina singled to center in the fourth. As a team, the Naturals left two runners on and were 1 for 3 with runners in scoring position.
Springfield’s only run came in the eighth when Vance Albitz singled to right, moved to second on a wild pitch by Ferguson and to third on Mike O’Neill’s single. After Alexander replaced Ferguson, James Ramsey hit into a force out to score Albitz.
The Cardinals left seven runners on base and were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Seth Blair (3-7) allowed 3 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings.
x-won first half SATURDAY’S GAMES Arkansas 6, Tulsa 5, (10) NW Arkansas 3, Springfield 1 Corpus Christi 9, Frisco 1 San Antonio 4, Midland 2 TODAY’S GAME All times Central Springfield at NW Arkansas, 6 p.m.
Frisco at Corpus Christi, 6:05 p.m.
Midland at San Antonio, 6:05 p.m.
Tulsa at Arkansas, 6:10 p.m.
Sports, Pages 23 on 07/21/2013