Gray, Drillers Shut Out Naturals

STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER @NWASAMANTHA Christian Binford of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals delivers a pitch Wednesday at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale during the game against the Tulsa Drillers.
STAFF PHOTO SAMANTHA BAKER @NWASAMANTHA Christian Binford of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals delivers a pitch Wednesday at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale during the game against the Tulsa Drillers.

SPRINGDALE -- Arvest Ballpark has been like a second home park for Jon Gray this year.

The Tulsa Drillers' right-hander looked right at home Wednesday night.

How They Scored

Minor League Baseball

Tulsa 2, Northwest Arkansas 0

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NWA^000^000^000^—^0^3^0

Gray, Striz (6), White (9) and Gonzalez. Binford, Adam (7) and Morin. W – Gray, 9-4. L – Binford, 1-1. S — White (8). HRs – Tulsa, Story (1).

Gray was dominant for much of the evening, giving up just one hit and no runs in 5 2/3 innings to earn the win and lead Tulsa to a 2-0 victory over Northwest Arkansas on the final night of a four-game series.

It was Gray's fifth start and win at Northwest Arkansas this season. Comparatively, he's only started six games at his home park in Tulsa, which includes one outing against the Naturals.

"You can't come out flat, especially against Gray," Naturals manager Vance Wilson said. "You've got to tip your cap. There's a reason he's your No. 1 pitching prospect, but you've still got to be able to dig in and compete. And we had a lot of non-competitive at bats, especially even once Gray came out. Just disappointed in our effort and overall energy tonight."

Tulsa (50-45 overall, 12-14 second half) claimed the final three games of the series after the Naturals won the opener 5-1 on Sunday.

The Naturals (37-59, 12-14) put pressure on the Drillers and reliever Cole White in the bottom of the ninth after Angel Franco walked to lead off the inning and Orlando Calixte followed it up with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs and the winning run at the plate. But White responded by striking out Jorge Bonifacio and Hunter Dozier, then getting the final out when third baseman Christhian Adames dug out Max Ramirez' ground ball and made the throw to first.

Naturals third baseman Angel Franco led off the bottom of the first inning with a single to right field, but it was the only hit Northwest Arkansas managed against Gray (9-4), who struck out seven on the night.

Tulsa took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Will Swanner scored on Brian Humphries' RBI single through the middle of the infield. Trevor Story led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to left field, providing all the insurance the Drillers would need.

Naturals starter Christian Binford didn't allow any other runs in qualifying for the quality start, spreading out seven hits with no walks and striking out eight in the seven innings. He was mostly impressive in his first outing since impressing in the Futures Game in Minneapolis on Sunday.

"He was a little up early," Wilson said. "But still, that being said, they're a good team that can really drop it on you. And for him to go and do what we he did, that was impressive."

SHORT HOPS

• Right-hander Jason Adam pitched two innings in relief, marking the second straight night a Naturals pitcher who has primarily been a starter has come out of the bullpen. Sam Selman made his third straight scoreless relief appearance Tuesday.

• Catcher Parker Morin's single in the bottom of the eighth inning extended his hitting streak to six games. He entered the night batting .240 with one home run, 11 RBIs and a .298 on-base percentage.

• Jorge Bonifacio had two plays end near the warning track, one each on offense and defense. He flied out to the left-field warning track in the bottom of the fourth inning, just feet short of hitting his fifth home run of the season. In the top of the sixth inning, he snared Taylor Featherston's fly to deep right-center field on a dead run near the warning track for an impressive catch.

Royals Pipeline: Three Omaha standouts represented the Pacific Coast League in the AAA all-star game Wednesday night. Catcher Francisco Pena and center fielder Paulo Orlando each started. Orlando went 0-for-3 at the plate, while Pena was 0-for-2. Storm Chasers reliever Spencer Patton struck out the only batter he faced in a second-inning appearance. Omaha will resume play at home tonight at 8 p.m. against New Orleans.

On Deck: The Naturals will begin a four-game series at Springfield, with first pitch at 7:10 p.m. The Naturals will pit right-hander Tim Melville (1-8, 4.98 ERA) against Cardinals left-hander Kyle Hald (7-3, 3.30).

Today's Promotion: N/A

On The Air: KQSM-FM 92.1

On The Web: www.nwanaturals.com.

Sports on 07/17/2014

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