SPRINGDALE -- Foster Griffin won the battle of dueling southpaws on Saturday night.
Griffin won his second 1-0 decision of the season for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, beating Springfield to clinch the series before 5,080 at Arvest Ballpark in a crisp two hours, nine minutes.
"They're fun; they're quick," Griffin said. "We get out of here. It's a 6 o'clock game, and it's 8:15 right now. We get to have somewhat of an evening. We love those. They're fun; they keep the energy up. They're quick, and everybody loves those."
The Naturals (17-25 second half, 52-60 overall) will go for the series sweep this afternoon.
Saturday, Griffin was locked in a duel with Springfield's Evan Kruczynski through five scoreless innings.
"The offense is doing everything they can, and their starter had a heck of game," Griffin said. "His pitch count was low, and he was mixing pitches. I just tried to go out there and match him every inning. We were able to get him for one."
Northwest Arkansas finally broke through against Kruczynski in the home half of the sixth.
With two out, Jecksson Flores hit a gapper into left center, which the fleet Flores turned into a triple, sliding into third just ahead of the tag.
Three pitches later, Samir Duenez lined a single to center to score Flores for the game's only run.
Griffin returned to the mound in the top of the seventh, and with the lead for the first time pitched his first 1-2-3 inning.
"The approach stays the same just because what you've been doing the first five, six innings has been working," Griffin said. "I knew they had the bottom of the order coming up, so I wanted to get ahead of guys and know they're going to be swinging early. My pitch count was getting up there, so they wanted to get to me to get to the bullpen."
Griffin allowed seven hits, all singles, and walked two. Springfield had runners every inning, but a key double-play grounder by Springfield's Victor Roach after a pair of singles ended the fourth inning.
"You try to limit damage, especially in games where their pitcher is rolling," Griffin said. "You try to calm yourself and try to get a ground ball, which I was able to do with Roach on 0-2 and turned two. That saved some pitches. If I would have struck him out, I would have had to have gotten the next guy. I got a curveball down, and he hit it to the shortstop, and they turned the doubleplay."
Griffin turned it over to Pedro Fernandez, who needed just 23 pitches to earn the save although he did walk the first batter he faced, Ramon Urias, to lead off the eighth, on four pitches. After a strikeout, John Nogowski scorched a line drive, which third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez leaped to snag. Urias retired the last four batters without fanfare.
Griffin also won a 1-0 decision against the Arkansas Travelers on June 11. He went seven scoreless innings in that one before turning it over to Jake Newberry, who tossed two scoreless innings to earn the save.
"Our bullpen has been great all year," Griffin said. "Newberry is in Omaha now, and he's had a heck of a year. Pedro has had just the same; he's been really good. He's been nails. It's good to see him come in there, but anybody that would have come in I would have had faith in to close it out."
Saturday's stellar start was the fourth in a row for Griffin, who's given up just four earned runs in his last 25 innings.
"You just try to go back to the basics and not get too much in your head," Griffin said. "There was a stretch there where I was trying everything mechanically to try to figure stuff out. I got to the point where I just went out and let my abilities take over and try to let my head get too cluttered and trust my catcher."
SHORT HOPS
• Jecksson Flores scored the game's only run and has scored a run in 10 straight games.
• The Naturals are now 2-1 in 1-0 games this season.
• Naturals' starter Foster Griffin threw 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes Saturday.
On Deck: Left-hander Luis Lugo (0-1, 6.14) has been tabbed the starter for the Naturals in the final game of the four-game series against Sprinfield, which will start Genesis Cabrera (7-6, 4.12). The start will be just the second for Lugo and third appearance on the Double-A level. On July 31, Lugo allowed just two runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Travelers in his start after one relief appearance against the Travelers seven days prior. The 24-year-old was signed July 22 by the Royals out of the Italian Baseball League. Genesis is a 21-year-old who was involved in the trade that sent Cardinal's outfielder Tommy Pham to the Tampa Bay Rays and is making his first appearance for Springfield. He started 20 of his 21 games at Montgomery of the Double-A Southern League and struck out 124 in 113 2/3 innings. In nine of his starts, Cabrera exceeded 100 pitches.
Tonight's Promotion: Sunday is Family Day at Arvest Ballpark when kids 12 and under receive a voucher for a hot dog, animal crackers, Swedish fish and a 12-ounce soda courtesy of Tyson Foods, Ball Park Buns, Mendelez International and Coca-Cola. Kids also are invited to run the bases following the conclusion of the game. The first 500 kids in attendance will receive a Strike the mascot coloring magnet as well as small pack of crayons. All kids' merchandise at the Naturals team store is marked off 25 percent on the final day of tax-free weekend.
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On The Web: www.nwanaturals.com
Sports on 08/05/2018