TEXAS LEAGUE

Travs bullpen in shutdown mode

Michael Morin has no clue how many consecutive innings the Arkansas Travelers’ bullpen has gone without allowing an earned run to start this season.

He prefers to stay in the dark, too.

“I have no idea, and I don’t want you to say it either,” Morin said after pitching a perfect ninth inning Friday night to earn his third save in the Travs’ 2-1 victory over the Midland RockHounds.

Travs relievers have now pitched 27 1/3 innings without giving up an earned run after R.J. Alvarez, Carmin Giardina, Kevin Johnson and Morin combined for four shutout innings to help preserve a victory for starter Drew Rucinski in front of an announced crowd of 5,326 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

The eight-member bullpen hasn’t allowed a run of any kind since Orangel Arenas gave up an unearned run in the season opener, and teams are hitting just .114 against Travs relievers.

“The bullpen’s been stellar,” Manager Phillip Wellman said. “It’s a pretty comforting feeling late in the game when you’ve got a lead and you have some horses to turn it over to. It’s a heck of a feeling.”

A reliable bullpen is even more crucial early in the season when Travs starters are limited to about 90 pitches per outing. Wellman has no problem handing over a lead to a bullpen that features two of the Los Angeles Angels’ top 20 prospects in Alvarez and Morin, as well as Johnson, who has closing experience.

Rucinski (2-0) held Midland to 5 hits and 1 run - a towering home run to right field by Connor Crumbliss in the first inning - through 5 innings, but he threw 84 pitches. So rather than allowing Rucinski to start the sixth with six pitches left, Wellman turned to his bullpen to protect a 2-1 lead.

Alvarez struck out two in a perfect sixth, then walked two to put runners on first and second base with two outs in the seventh. Wellman called on Giardina, a left-hander, to pitch to the left-handed Crumbliss, who popped out to Shawn O’Malley at shortstop to end the threat.

Giardina pitched around a leadoff single in the eighth, then Morin retired the side in order in the ninth for his third save in as many opportunities this year. Morin, who spent most of last year at Class A Inland Empire, has allowed 3 hits while striking out 6 in 5 innings this year without a walk.

“Everyone has been there, done that and has experience, which pushes us,” Morin said.“When you have guys hot on your tail, throwing up zeroes all the time, it’s a competition. We make everything a competition.”

The Travs erased the 1-0 deficit when Zach Borenstein led off the second with a double, moved to third on Michael Snyder’s pop-up and scored on Jett Bandy’s sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, Bandy hit a one-out double to left, moved to third on Drew Heid’s ground out and scored when O’Malley’s grounder was bobbled by Crumbliss at second base to give the Travs a 2-1 lead.

They could have added another run in the seventh when Snyder doubled and moved to third on Bandy’s single before Andy Workman pinchran for Snyder. But Heid hit a ground ball to shortstop Dusty Coleman, who threw to second base to force out Bandy as Workman stayed at third. Midland reliever Jeff Urlaub then threw to first to catch Heid in a rundown, and Workman was thrown out at home trying to score during the rundown.

Wellman said Workman could have scored on Heid’s ground ball, but he didn’t criticize his decision to stay put.

“With the infield in, you can’t go on contact,” he said. “Could he have scored? Yeah. But he’s in a position where you’ve got to make the ball go through.”

Today’s game ARKANSAS VS. MIDLAND WHEN 6:10 p.m.

WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas WEBSITE travs.com PITCHERS Travelers: Kramer Sneed (LHP,1-0, 1.50 ERA); RockHounds: Raul Alcantara (RHP, 1-0, 1.80) TICKETS $12 box seats, $8 reserved ($5 children), $6 general admission ($4 children). Gates open 1 hour before game.

PROMOTIONS First 1,500 fans receive free Travelers calenders. Post game flying disc toss. Fans can pay $1 for a chance to toss a flying disc through the window of an Acura after the game.

TRAVELERS WEEK AHEAD TODAY Midland, 6:10 p.m.

SUNDAY Frisco, 4:10 p.m.

MONDAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m.

TUESDAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m.

WEDNESDAY off THURSDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.

FRIDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.

Sports, Pages 25 on 04/12/2014

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