Baseball: Naturals rally in ninth inning for 3-2 victory over the Travelers

Corey Ray (41) of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals pitches against Arkansas Travelers Monday, May 8, 2017 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
Corey Ray (41) of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals pitches against Arkansas Travelers Monday, May 8, 2017 at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE --Northwest Arkansas scored only in the first and ninth innings, but it was enough against Arkansas on Monday.

The Naturals rallied for two runs in the ninth inning and defeated the Travelers 3-2 before a crowd of 3,638 at Arvest Ballpark. Allan de San Miguel drove in the winning run with a line drive single after Ruben Sosa bunted to bring pinch runner Logan Moon home from third base with the tying run.

The Naturals players sprinted out of the dugout and celebrated with de San Miguel, who had water from a cooler poured over his head. Northwest Arkansas (17-12) will go for the sweep today after posting consecutive shutouts against the Travelers (12-18).

"It was a safety squeeze and Logan had a great hook slide coming home from third," Northwest Arkansas manager Vance Wilson said. "Then de San Miguel, the veteran guy and the heart of our team, was able to get the game-winning hit. We're built on pitching and defense, then we just keep grinding, and that's what happened today."

Frank Swindel and Maurico Ramos started the ninth-inning rally with one-out singles against reliever Peter Tago (0-2), who took the loss. Samir Duenez put Northwest Arkansas ahead 1-0 in the first inning with his sixth home run of the season.

Pedro Fernandez (1-2) earned the victory with 21/2 innings of scoreless relief. Northwest Arkansas starter Corey Ray went 61/3 innings, where he allowed two earned runs and eight hits.

Arkansas scored two runs in the second inning after losing 4-0 and 3-0 to the Naturals. Jay Baum had a double, Chuck Taylor a run-scoring single, and Nelson Ward a sacrifice fly in the inning.

Hernandez ended the seventh inning with consecutive strikeouts after Arkansas placed runners at first and third with one out. Arkansas also failed to increased its lead in the sixth inning Tyler Marlette and Joe Wong began the inning with singles. Ray struck out Jay Baum, who had doubles in his previous two plate appearances, then got No. 9 hitter Nelson Ward on an inning-ending double play.

SHORT HOPS:

Arkansas scored two runs in the second inning to break a streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings by Northwest Arkansas pitchers.

Terrence Gore stole his seventh and eighth base of the season after reaching on infield singles in the third and eighth innings for the Naturals. Gore began the night fourth in the Texas League in stolen bases.

Left-hander Ryan Horstman struck out the side on 15 pitches in the sixth inning after he entered the game in relief for Arkansas. Horstman threw most of his pitches in the low 90s but he also had the Naturals reaching and missing on a few off-speed pitches.

Northwest Arkansas fans applauded a hustle play made Naturals shortstop Jack Lopez on an infield single by Arkansas' Ian Miller in the fifth inning. Lopez bar-handed a ball headed toward left field and thew to first base while his momentum carried him into foul territory. Miller beat the one-hop throw to first base then advanced later to second base but did not score.

On Deck: The Naturals conclude their four-game series against Arkansas today starting at 11:05 a.m.. Left-hander Matt Tenuta (1-1, 10.19 ERA) will take the mound for Northwest Arkansas against right-hander Lindsey Caughel (2-2, 4.28 ERA) for the Travelers.

Todays' Promotion: School Kids Days Groups of students, teachers, and chaperones receive a special discount ticket.

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On The Web: www.nwanaturals.com

Sports on 05/09/2017

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