Brett Eibner hit his eighth home run, Jason Adam turned in his third consecutive solid start and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals won for the sixth time in eight games Saturday night.
Eibner’s home run broke a scoreless tie in the fourth, and the Naturals added a run in the fifth and another in the ninth in a 3-1 victory over the Tulsa Drillers at ONEOK Field in Tulsa. It came a day after the Naturals were held scoreless and stranded 11 runners in a 2-0 loss.
Eibner, a former Arkansas Razorback, made sure another shutout wouldn’t come when he homered to right field off Tulsa starter Collin McHugh, who was making his first start for the Drillers after coming over in a trade withthe New York Mets.
Roman Hernandez hit a two-out double in the fifth and scored on Whit Merrifield’s single, and Brian Fletcher singled, moved to second on a wild pitch onscored on Cheslor Cuthbert’s single in the ninth.
Adam (3-8) won for the second consecutive start and held an opponent to two earned runs or less for a third consecutive start. He gave up 1 run on 3 hits and struck out 2 in 6 1/3 innings. Since June 6, Adam is 3-1 with a 3.08 ERA after starting 0-7 with a 6.20 ERA through his first 10 starts.
Zach Jackson pitched around a two-out single in the ninth to convert his seventh consecutive save opportunity.
Sports, Pages 31 on 06/23/2013