SPRINGDALE — Orlando Calixte’s weekend debut was a blast for the Naturals.
Calixte belted a pair of solo home runs, including a no-doubter in the bottom of the ninth that cracked a tie and led to a 9-8 win against Springfield to send a Mother’s Day crowd of 3,513 home happy.
Calixte’s homer was his second line-drive blast of the day, the second of which landed in the Bullpen Cafe over the picnic area well beyond the left field fence.
Jorge Bonifacio gave children a souvenir in their play area with a tape-measure grand slam high above the bull pen and into the childrens play area, almost taking out an inflatable bounce around.
The Naturals (14-22) have won three straight games, all over Springfield.
They loaded the bases in the third with the first three batters reaching to begin the home half of the inning. Ethan Chapman singled sharply to left followed by consecutive walks by Whit Merrifield and Lane Adams, setting the table for Bonaficio’s blast.
Parker Morin and Chapman added run-scoring singles in the inning as the Naturals scored six runs, sending 11 batters to the plate.
Justin Trapp also slugged a homer in the seventh inning as part of the Natural’s four homer day.
Bonifacio also slugged a grand slam at Midland on April 8 for the only other grand slam by the Naturals this season.
“We made a huge adjustment in our approach oftensively the last couple of days”, Naturals Manager Vance Wilson said. “Bonifacio, being a big RBI guy, even when he gets down two strikes, for the most part you have a good feeling that he’s going to get something done.”
SHORT HOPS
Bonifacio’s grand slam home run was his 24th career homer in the minor leagues.
There were a total of 352 pitches thrown in Sunday’s game that took 3:29 to complete.
Four players swung pink bats on Sunday and were a combined 7-for-17 with a homer.
Extra Bases: Some players for both teams sported pink wrist bands, sleeves, shoelaces and batting gloves while some even swung pink bats in honor of Mother’s Day on Sunday. … Home plate umpire Ramon Hernandez had to be attended to by Naturals athletic trainer Masa Koyanagi after being hit in a hand for the second Sunday in a row, both in the first inning. … Ike Boone of San Antonio hit for the cycle 91 years ago on Sunday and went on to hit .402 for the season, which still stands as the Texas League modern-era record.
Royals Pipeline: Orlando Calixte was assigned to the Naturals, the Kansas City Royals announced Saturday. Calixte missed the start of the 2014 season after spending the entire 2013 season as the starting shortstop for the Naturals. This will be the fourth season in the Royals system. He is rated the No. 9 prospect in the organization and hit .250 with eight homers and 14 stolen bases in 484 at-bats for the team last year. Calixte was 0-for-4 on Saturday playing shortstop and homered twice on Sunday, going 4-for-6 with a stolen base as the designated hitter.
On Deck: The Naturals begin a four-game series in North Little Rock against the Travelers. Jason Adam (0-4, 6.44) looks to pick up his first win of the season for the Naturals. Mark Sappington (1-3, 5.50) will be on the mound for Arkansas.
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