The first priority for anyone in baseball's minor leagues is advancement.
Arkansas Travelers Manager Daren Brown maintains such upward mobility is a byproduct of winning, and he and his players' enjoyment in a 5-4 victory over the Midland RockHounds was evident at Dickey-Stephens Park on Saturday night.
"We value winning," Brown said. "I think there's something to be said for a ballplayer knowing how to win. It is about development here, but at the same time, we want to develop winning-type players.
"When they get to the big leagues, you want them to understand how to win a game. That's what it's all about, and at some point you have to look at what it takes to win games."
Midland struck first with a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by designated hitter Jermaine Curtis, and it extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth when center fielder B.J. Boyd knocked in third baseman Jordan Tarsovich from second with a single.
The Travs responded in the bottom of the fifth with three runs on RBI singles by shortstop Joey Wong and center fielder Braden Bishop, and a bases-loaded walk by right fielder Chuck Taylor.
"We got a couple of big hits there," Brown said.
Midland came back in the top of the sixth inning with right fielder J.P. Sportman's two-run home run down the right-field line to take a 4-3 lead.
Sportsman's blast looked likely to go foul as it drew left, away from Taylor. Sportman said he wondered whether it would get out.
"I was actually kind of looking at it, jogging just to see if it was going to stay fair," he said. "Luckily, toward the end, I finally saw it stay sort of straight, and I said, 'Cool.' ''
Arkansas countered in the bottom of the sixth, this time when catcher Steven Baron -- in his second game down from Class AAA Tacoma -- hit a home run to right that also scored third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean to give the Travs a 5-4 lead.
"I felt great on that swing," Baron said. "I stayed behind the ball. I got it pretty good, but I wasn't sure how the ball traveled in this ballpark. I was running pretty hard, watching the ball. When it got over, I thought, 'OK. Nice.' ''
"They came right back and answered," Sportman said. "It was like a see-saw effect."
Baron's home run held up as the winner.
"It's good for Baron to get an opportunity to play," Brown said. "I thought he did a nice job with our pitching staff tonight."
Sportman said his No. 1 goal is to win.
"Winning is extremely important," Sportman said. "Obviously this is an individual game in the minor leagues. The goal is to be in the big leagues, but I think organizations value guys who are winners, too. I take pride in that. I come out here every night and I want to win. I definitely want to win games."
"Night in, night out, I've always said that if you throw strikes, have good situational hitting, we'll give ourselves a chance," Brown said. "We haven't done that very well, but that still doesn't take away the fact that I'll continue until we're done to say that it's about having one game to win today, so let's go out and try to win this game."
Sports on 08/13/2017