SPRINGDALE -- The Northwest Arkansas Naturals scored only in the first and ninth innings, but it was enough against the Arkansas Travelers on Monday night.
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 will go for the series sweep today after posting consecutive shutouts against the Travelers on Saturday and Sunday.
"It was a safety squeeze and Logan had a great hook slide coming home from third," Northwest Arkansas Manager Vance Wilson said of Sosa's bunt for the tying run. "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 Travs 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 2 1/2 innings of scoreless relief. Northwest Arkansas starter Corey Ray went 6 1/3 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 8 hits.
The Travelers scored two runs in the second inning. Jay Baum had a double, Chuck Taylor drove him in with a single, and Nelson Ward added an RBI sacrifice fly.
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.
Sports on 05/09/2017