TEXAS LEAGUE
TRAVELERS 8, ROCKHOUNDS 3
Four walks and two wild pitches, along with two RBI singles and a three-run double down the left-field line by Ryan Casteel, led to six runs for the Arkansas Travelers in the seventh inning Saturday in an 8-3 victory over the Midland RockHounds at Security Bank Ballpark in Midland, Texas.
Tyler Marlette walked to start the seventh inning for the Travs, then moved to third on Marcus Littlewood's double to left-center field. After Joey Wong struck out, Braden Bishop was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out. Chris Mariscal's RBI single scored Marlette to give Arkansas a 3-1 lead. Midland reliever Brandon Mann threw a wild pitch to score Littlewood to increase the lead to 4-1.
After walking Chuck Taylor, Mann was replaced by Cody Stull. Seth Mejias-Brean then hit an RBI single to score Bishop, giving the Travs a 5-1 lead. Mariscal was thrown out at home trying to score on the play, while Taylor moved to third and Mejias-Brean moved to second. Dario Pizzano walked to load the bases before Ryan Casteel hit a bases-clearing double down the left-field line for an 8-1 lead. It was Casteel's only hit of the game.
The RockHounds took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Tyler Ramirez hit a one-out triple to right field and scored on J.P. Sportman's RBI single. The Travs responded when Bishop hit a two-out, two-run double in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead.
Midland attempted to make things interesting in the ninth inning. Jermaine Curtis walked to start the inning and moved to third on a one-out single by Ramirez. Reliever Ashur Tolliver (Sylvan Hills), who was signed as a free agent by the Seattle Mariners on Friday and assigned to the Travelers, then threw a wild pitch to score Curtis and cut the lead to 8-2. Ramirez scored on a sacrifice fly by Sheldon Neuse to cut the lead to 8-3.
Joey Wong led the Travs offensively, going 2 for 3 with a run scored, while Littlewood went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Starter Bryan Evans (2-1) earned the victory after scattering 7 hits and allowing 1 earned run with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.
Sports on 08/20/2017