A stable of reliable relievers has been the Arkansas Travelers' biggest strength through the season's first month.
Brian Humphries wasn't impressed, though.
"No pitching staff is unhittable," said Humphries, who was called on to pinch hit for the Tulsa Drillers in the seventh inning on Sunday at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The left-handed Humphries showed as much when he turned on a 2-2 two-seam fastball from Travs reliever Kevin Johnson for a three-run home run to give the Drillers a 6-4 lead en route to an 8-6 victory in front of an announced crowd of 3,548 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Humphries' home run, his third of the season, was the biggest blow to an Arkansas bullpen that fell apart for the first time Sunday and prevented the Travelers from splitting a four-game series with Tulsa.
Arkansas led 4-1 after six, but Johnson gave up five runs in the seventh and David Carpenter gave up two in the ninth, the fifth time the Travs' bullpen has taken the loss this season, and it was the second time this season they lost a game when leading after six innings.
The Travs wasted a 14-hit day -- their most in a game at home this season -- and a second consecutive encouraging start for Michael Roth, who held the Drillers to 1 run through 5 2/3 innings despite allowing eight hits.
The Travs' bullpen had a 2.04 ERA in 123 2/3 innings before Sunday's game.
"Today was the first day our bullpen cracked, the first time," Arkansas Manager Phillip Wellman said. "If somebody tells me before the season that in 35 games, your bullpen is going to fail one time, I'm going to be ecstatic."
Tulsa's bench proved to be the difference.
Vance Albitz and Adam Melker each hit RBI singles in the sixth to give the Travs a 4-1 lead as Johnson entered from the bullpen. But he gave up consecutive one-out singles to Delta Cleary, Jr., and Cristhian Adames before Tom Murphy drove in both with a double to left-center field and Johnson then walked Ryan Casteel.
Tulsa Manager Kevin Riggs called on Humphries, a left-hander, to bat for right-handed Harold Riggins vs. the right-handed Johnson. The move worked out when Humphries' home run cleared the glove of Travs' right fielder Andy Workman, who went over the wall trying to make the catch and landed in the Travs' bullpen.
"You're looking for a base hit just to tie the score and he comes up big," Riggs said. "You roll the dice, but you get some information and you try to utilize it and it works out. It doesn't always work out that way."
Wellman said he never thought about changing pitchers to match a left-hander up with Humphries. Left-hander Brandon Sisk pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but Wellman said it was his intention not to use Sisk at all. Johnson's rough seventh made it essential in the eighth.
Rehabbing left-hander Sean Burnett pitched Saturday and lefty Carmine Giardina relieved Roth in the sixth. So Johnson had to stay in the game, relying on his sinker, usually his best pitch. It wasn't sinking Sunday, his first outing in five days.
"The more he throws, the more his ball sinks," Wellman said. "I don't think his ball was sinking today. It was straight. You could tell from the side. As he stayed out there longer, his ball started sinking, by then it was too late."
Sports on 05/12/2014