Taylor Lindsey was the recipient of a few celebratory slugs from his Arkansas Travelers teammates around home plate Wednesday afternoon.
The Travs’ second baseman was fine with a few punches to the stomach, considering the ninth-inning home run he had just hit into the bullpen in right field gave them a 4-3 victory over the Tulsa Drillers in front of an announced crowd of 6,371 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
“They just beat the crap out of me,” said Lindsey, whose third home run of the season - all hit in the past four days - came after the Drillers scored a run in the top of the ninth to tie the game. “I enjoyed every second of it. It’s a big win, and we’re just going to keep going.”
The drive on a 1-2 slider with one out gave the Travs a second victory over the Drillers in as many days and forced a three-way tie atop the Texas League North Division between the two teams and the Springfield Cardinals. It also came at the end of a game that saw a third-inning downpour aid in the Travs’ runs and center fielder Travis Witherspoon’s defensive play help hold a slim lead.
The game almost came to a halt in the third when the skies opened up with Arkansas at bat.
Rolando Gomez hit a one out double to center field, then C.J. Cron gave Arkansas a 1-0 lead with a bloop single to left field. After Randall Grichuk walked, Kaleb Cowart made it 3-0 with a two-run double.
The rain was coming down so hard in the third that during Cron’s at-bat the first baseman had the bat slip from his hands and it flew into the stands toward a group of school children, though at that point most had retreated to the covered concourse.
Tulsa Manager Kevin Riggs said afterward that he didn’t think the game should have been stopped - neither did Arkansas Manager Tim Bogar - but Riggs said the showers contributed to his starter’s worst inning.
Left-hander Tyler Matzek, a 22-year-old ranked as the Colorado Rockies’ eighth-best prospect by Baseball America, gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in the third inning but held Arkansas to only two more hits after that before exiting after 6 2/3 innings.
“You’ve got to think [the rain] had something to do with it,” Riggs said. “The feel for the ball, the rosin bag out there was wet. … The spikes were sopping wet and mud in the shoes. So, yeah.”
The Travs didn’t score again until Lindsey’s home run while starter Lay Batista and their defense held the lead.
Batista gave up 2 runs on 9 hits in 6 innings and was in line for the victory until Kevin Johnson gave up a run in the ninth that tied the game at 3-3, his first blown save in six chances this year.
Tulsa could have pulled closer earlier in the game, but Witherspoon, who went 0 for 3, caught a line drive hit by Jayson Langfels and doubled up Kiel Roling at second base to end the fourth after the Drillers had scored to make it 3-1.
In the sixth, after Kent Matthes doubled and scored to make it 3-2, Witherspoon fielded Langfels’ single and threw out Roling at the plate trying to score from second base to end the inning.
Then, in the eighth, Matthes hit a lead off drive to deep center field, but Witherspoon made a diving catch on the warning track and Travs reliever Caleb Graham retired Tulsa in order.
“I will say that’s the best catch I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” Bogar said. “That was Jim Edmonds-esque. When you’re running dead straightaway from center field and you lay out and catch it - I’m thinking triple as soon as he hit it - he basically saved the game in that aspect for us.”
Arkansas and Tulsa will play at Dickey-Stephens Park tonight and Friday, but Bogar wouldn’t place too much emphasis on the implications this series has on the first-half standings.
“Honestly, at this point, it really doesn’t matter. We’ve just got to start playing consistent baseball,” said Bogar, whose team has won five of their past seven games. “We’re hitting the ball with a little more authority, so the little streaks are going to start getting a little bit longer.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
Arkansas 4, Tulsa 3 Springfield 9, NW Arkansas 3 San Antonio 8, Frisco 2 Corpus Christi 3, Midland 2 (11)
TODAY’S GAMES All times Central
Springfield at NW Arkansas, 7 p.m.
San Antonio at Frisco, 7 p.m.
Midland at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.
Tulsa at Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
Sports, Pages 15 on 05/02/2013