TEXAS LEAGUE

Rockies' prospect bottles up Naturals

Tulsa starting pitcher Jon Gray held the Northwest Arkansas Naturals to one hit over 5 2/3 innings and the Drillers earned a 2-0 victory Wednesday night in front of an announced crowd of 3,170 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

Gray (9-4), the Colorado Rockies' No. 1 prospect according to Baseball America, struck out seven and walked two. He allowed a leadoff single to Angel Franco and a one-out walk to Jorge Bonifacio in the bottom of the first inning, but the right-hander retired 15 of his final 16 batters before being relieved by Nate Striz with two outs in the sixth inning.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Naturals had the game-tying run at the plate with nobody out. Franco walked to lead off the ninth and Orlando Calixte doubled, putting runners on second and third base. But Tulsa reliever Cole White struck out Bonifacio and Hunter Dozier and got Max Ramirez to ground out to end the game. White earned his eighth save.

Trevor Story went 2 for 4, including his first home run of the season, which extended Tulsa's lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth inning.

Brian Humphries also went 2 for 4 and hit 1 RBI single in the second inning to give the Drillers a 1-0 lead.

Calixte, Franco and Parker Morin each had a hit for the Naturals, who were outhit 7-3.

Northwest Arkansas right-hander Christian Binford (1-1) struck out 8 and allowed 2 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings.

Sports on 07/17/2014

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