Fireworks of various kinds came a little late for the Arkansas Travelers on Tuesday night.
San Antonio left fielder Josh Naylor homered twice in leading the Missions to a 7-6 victory in front of 8,626 at Dickey-Stephens Park who were treated to a fireworks display after the game.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS TRAVELERS AT CORPUS CHRISTI HOOKS
WHEN 7:05 p.m. Central
WHERE Whataburger Field, Corpus Christi
RADIO KARN-AM 920 in central Arkansas
WEBSITE travs.com
PITCHERS Travs: RHP Nathan Bannister (4-5, 5.91); Hooks: RHP Jorge Alcala (1-1, 2.53)
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY at Corpus Christi, 7;05 p.m.
THURSDAY at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.
FRIDAY at Corpus Christi, 7:05 p.m.
SATURDAY at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m.
SUNDAY at San Antonio, 6:05 p.m.
MONDAY at San Antonio, 7:05 p.m.
TUESDAY off
Naylor belted a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to give San Antonio a 7-4 lead and help the Missions salvage the finale of the three-game series. It also offset Joseph Odom's two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth for Arkansas.
Travs fans also witnessed Manager Daren Brown's first ejection of the season. He was tossed by home plate umpire Brian Walsh in the eighth inning after Travs second baseman Donnie Walton was ejected after taking a called third strike.
"I'm not going to talk about the ejection," said Brown, who was walking back to the third-base coaching box when Walsh sent the Travs manager to the clubhouse. "It happens. It's the umpire's discretion. I don't have to always agree. It's just the way it is."
Naylor's first home run also brought Brown out of the dugout. First-base umpire Kyle Wallace originally ruled Naylor's blast was a ground-rule double, but after the umpires huddled in the infield to discuss the call, the hit was changed to a home run, igniting the Missions' four-run first inning.
"If you see the outfielder lean over the fence and not catch it, then obviously it's a home run," said Naylor, who has hit eight of his 12 home runs against the Travelers. "The umpire, I guess, had a bad angle on it. I don't blame them. It's tough. But, yeah, I knew it went over."
Brown said he was in no danger of getting ejected after the changed call.
"I think they got the call right," Brown said. "It was just the changing of the call."
For the second night in a row, Arkansas' pitchers combined to strike out a season-best 14 batters. Travs starter Anthony Misiewicz (1-6) fanned 7 batters in 4 innings, but he was guilty of giving up 6 hits and 5 earned runs, including a two-run home run to .061 hitter Nick Schulz.
"Misiewicz was up in the zone a little bit, and he paid for it," Brown said. "It happens sometimes. I didn't like it happening tonight. He put us in a hole, but I liked the way he battled back. We got back in the game, and I felt like we were coming back at them the whole game."
San Antonio had a 5-1 lead after three innings. Arkansas rallied to within a run, scoring three runs in the fourth on RBI hits from Braden Bishop, Chuck Taylor and Eric Filia.
The Travs did not score again until Odom's one-out home run to left in the ninth.
San Antonio reliever Lake Bachar (1-4) pitched the final five innings to collect the win. He struck out seven and allowed five hits.
Misiewicz's outing was the third consecutive game in which the Travs' starter went five innings or less.
"We need to get a little more length out of our starters," Brown said. "It puts us in a tough position."
Sports on 07/04/2018