TEXAS LEAGUE
TRAVELERS 3, MISSIONS 1
Arkansas Travelers Manager Daren Brown didn't have any worries in the top of the ninth when San Antonio had the bases loaded with one out.
No, he had Matt Festa on the mound in search of his 10th save this season.
Festa gave up a run on a two-out single but secured the save with 1⅓ innings of relief in the Travelers' 3-1 victory before an announced crowd of 2,186 on Sunday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
David McKay (4-1) got the victory in the rain-interrupted game in relief of starter Chase De Jong. The loss went to San Antonio starter Jerry Keel (6-3).
"We got Festa on the mound, and he's got what, 9 for 9 on saves," Brown said. "We're not going to anyone else. I thought he made some pretty good pitches. He didn't get the call on all of them, but that happens at every level. The bullpen did a good job today."
The first three innings were uneventful except for the bottom of the second when the Travs had runners on first and second with one out thanks to base hits from Chris Mariscal and Dario Pizzano. Catcher Joe De Carlo fouled out to first and Logan Taylor struck out.
San Antonio got a runner on with a second-inning single from Kyle Overstreet, and when Matt Batten got hit by a pitch with two outs in the third. Batten made the third out when he was thrown out at second while trying to steal.
The Missions' Ty France singled with one out in the fourth but was erased on a double-play ground ball by catcher Austin Allen.
The Travs started making noise in the fourth when leadoff batter Eric Filia singled to right on a 1-2 pitch from Keel. First baseman Joey Curletta sent the first pitch he saw to the berm in right field for a 2-0 lead, his second home run in two games. Pizzano singled with one out, but De Carlo hit into a double play to end the threat.
Then the rain started, and the teams sat through a 64-minute delay before the top of the fifth.
"Chase did a good job early, and I would have liked to have seen what he could have done if it didn't rain," Brown said. "We talked about [De Jong returning] but once it gets over an hour, it's more about taking care of Chase. We had other guys we could go to."
The Missions couldn't do anything with a two-out single by Batten in the sixth. The Travs managed to get two runners on via walks in the bottom of the inning but couldn't score.
In the bottom of the seventh, De Carlo led off with a hard double down the left-field line. A wild pitch by San Antonio reliever Trevor Frank moved him to third. Taylor walked, but Yonathan Mendoza popped out to second. Braden Bishop flew out to deep right to score De Carlo.
San Antonio finally broke through in the top of the ninth when a two-out bases-loaded single by Peter Van Gansen drove in a run.
Sports on 07/02/2018