The first half of the Texas League season ended for the Arkansas Travelers with two 3-2 losses to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Monday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
The Naturals won the first game after the team spoiled Travs right-hander Dylan Unsworth's shot at a no-hitter in the sixth inning. In the second game, the Naturals held on to an early 3-0 lead.
In both games, Naturals relief pitching staved off Travs attempts at a seventh-inning rally.
While the Naturals have clinched a playoff spot with the North Division first-half title, the Travs have now lost five games in a row. But the standings will all reset when the teams continue their series today.
"The first half for the team unfortunately didn't go as well as we wanted it to," said Travs center fielder Ian Miller, who went 3 for 7 with a double in the doubleheader before an announced crowd of 5,222. "We showed that when we can pitch and hit together, we're a good team. We're going to try to carry it over to the second half."
During the first game, Naturals second baseman Corey Toups broke up Unsworth's no-hitter with a double to center field in the sixth. An inning later, Unsworth gave up 2 hits, 1 walk and 3 earned runs as the Naturals came back to win 3-2.
Unsworth (5-6, 4.23 ERA) had won four of his previous five starts, and the Travs nearly rallied in the seventh to relieve him of the loss. Travs third baseman Adam Law grounded into a game-ending fielder's choice with runners on first and second after the team had pushed across one run.
Travs right-hander Max Povse originally was pegged to start the second game, but he was replaced by right-hander Brett Ash (5-5, 5.83) after Povse was called up to the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
The Naturals took the lead in the second inning of the second game with two runs. In the fifth, Toups drove in what would be the difference-making run with a single to center field.
Naturals right-hander Ashton Goudeau (3-6, 4.66) earned the victory after pitching 5 innings, with 2 hits and 5 strikeouts. Left-hander Tim Hill (1-2, 6.06) earned his second save of the season when he struck out Miller and shortstop Joey Wong after giving up two singles to start the seventh inning.
"I was just trying to throw my fastball away because I knew they were trying to get something in the air," said Hill, who struck out Wong looking with a slider to end the game. "It was supposed to be off the plate, and I threw it over the plate. I'm just glad he didn't swing."
The results did not affect the standings. The Naturals clinched the North Division first-half title in their 4-1 victory over the Tulsa Drillers on Saturday night.
The North Division's top team in the second half will play the Naturals in a playoff semifinal to decide which team will face the South Division champion for the league title. If the Naturals finish first again, the team with the second-best record will advance.
"The good thing about that is you can start focusing on individual developmental things," said Naturals Manager Vance Wilson. "There's no 'we've got to win out, get to the playoffs.' Obviously, the playoffs is the focus, and now we can focus on [player] development."
The Naturals have played in the Texas League championship in each of the past two seasons, where they lost both series to the Midland RockHounds. In 2016, the Naturals earned their playoff berth by winning the second-half title. In 2015, they won the first half of the season. No team that finished at the top of the first-half standings has won the league title since the league implemented the split season format in 2013.
Standings can flip significantly from a minor league's first half of the season to its second, changing as teams' best players ascend to the next classification as the season progresses. The Springfield Cardinals topped the North Division standings in the 2016 first half with a 41-29 record, finished third in the second half at 34-36 while six position players and 12 pitchers were called up to higher classifications -- including right-handers Luke Weaver (6-3, 1.40) and Kevin Herget (5-0, 3.32) -- then lost the semifinal playoff series 3-1 to the Naturals.
The Naturals went on to lose the league championship series 3-1 to Midland, which also finished atop the second-half standings in the South Division. Midland beat the Corpus Christi Hooks in the semifinals, and the Hooks had finished first (47-23) in the first half, then second (38-32) in the second half -- after third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez were called up to the Houston Astros.
"First half, second half, it doesn't really matter to me," said Wilson, who has managed the Naturals since 2014. "It's about preparation, and you go from there."
first game
NW ark. AB R H BI arkansas AB R H BI
Toups, 2b 3 0 1 0 Miller, cf 3 0 1 1
Escalera, cf/rf 2 0 0 0 Law, 3b 4 0 1 0
Duenez, dh 3 1 1 0 Taylor, lf 2 0 1 0
Walters, 1b 3 1 1 0 Pizzano, dh 3 0 0 0
Arteaga, ss 2 1 0 0 Casteel, 1b 3 0 1 0
Moon, rf 2 0 0 0 Waldrop, rf 2 1 1 1
Dewees, ph/cf 1 0 0 1 Littlewood, c 3 1 1 0
Morin, c 3 0 1 1 Ward, 2b 3 0 1 0
Diaz, 3b 2 0 0 0 Kobernus, ss 1 0 0 0
Sanchez, lf 3 0 0 0
TOTALS 24 3 4 3 totals 24 2 7 2
NW Arkansas 000 000 3 -- 3 4 0
Arkansas 010 000 1 -- 2 7 0
DP -- Arkansas 2. LOB -- NW Arkansas 3, Arkansas 6. 2B -- Toups, Walters. HR -- Waldrop (7). S -- Diaz, Kobernus. CS -- Law.
NW Arkansas IP H R ER BB SO
Ray W, 5-4 6 5 1 1 3 2
Newberry S, 9 1 2 1 1 1 1
arkansas IP H R ER BB SO
Unswrth L, 5-6 61/3 4 3 3 1 4
Gillies 2/3 0 0 0 0 0
HBP -- by Unsworth (Escalera). Umpires -- Home: Gibbs; First: Oakes; Third: Robinson. Time -- 1:55. Attendance -- NA
SECOND GAME
NW ARK. AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI
Lopez, 2b 4 0 0 0 Miller, cf 4 1 2 1
Toups, lf 4 0 1 1 Wong, ss 4 0 0 0
Duenez, 1b 3 0 0 0 Taylor, dh 3 0 0 0
Walters, ss 3 1 1 0 Pizzano, lf 2 0 0 0
Dewees, cf 2 0 1 0 Marlette, c 3 0 2 1
Dini, c 2 0 0 0 Waldrop, 1b 3 0 0 0
Moon, dh 3 1 1 1 DeLaCruz, rf 3 0 1 0
Sanchez, rf 2 1 2 1 Kobernus, 2b 3 0 1 0
Diaz, 3b 2 0 1 0 Ward, 3b 3 1 1 0
TOTALS 25 3 7 3 totals 28 2 7 2
NW Arkansas 020 010 0 -- 3 7 0
Arkansas 000 002 0 -- 2 7 0
DP -- Arkansas. LOB -- NW Arkansas 5, Arkansas 6. 2B -- Moon, Sanchez, Miller. 3B -- Ward. S -- Dewees, Diaz. SB -- Miller.
NW Arkansas IP H R ER BB SO
Goudeau W, 3-6 5 2 0 0 0 5
Rico 1 3 2 2 1 0
Hill S, 2 1 2 0 0 0 2
arkansas IP H R ER BB SO
Ash L, 5-5 5 7 3 3 0 4
Knigge 2 0 0 0 2 2
Umpires -- Home: Oakes; First: Robinson; Third: Gibbs. Time -- 2:10. Attendance -- 5,222
Sports on 06/20/2017