Nats Rally To Defeat Travs
Published on August 28, 2008 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release
Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock, Arkansas - The Arkansas Travelers (24-42, 60-76) entered the seventh inning clinging to a 2-0 lead over the NW Arkansas Naturals (40-26, 73-63). They entered the bottom of the inning trailing 3-2 courtesy of Juan Richardson's second game-winning home run of the series. Five more Nats' runs in the eighth inning put the game out of the Travs reach and send the Nats to an 8-2 victory.
Dan Denham started the game for the Travs and was fairly effective, pitching five solid innings and holding the Nats scoreless on five base hits. Denham also walked three batters and struck out four, elevating his pitch count to 89. Four of the 22 batters he faced worked the count full to contribute to his early exit.
Corey Smith broke open the scoring with a solo homer in the fourth inning for a 1-0 lead. His 26th home run of the season tied him with former Naturals 1B Kila Ka'aihue for the Texas League lead in that department.
The Travelers tacked on an additional run in the sixth when Brian Stavisky led off the inning with a double and scored on Mark Trumbo's sacrifice fly.
The lead was short-lived however, as the Nats went on to score three runs in the next half-inning to take the lead 3-2. Marco Albano (0-1) relieved Denham and pitched a scoreless sixth but ran into trouble by walking two men in the seventh. Richardson made him pay with his 16th home of the year. Doug Brandt relieved Albano and got the Travs out of the seventh inning. Albano was charged with his first blown save and first loss of the season. The three runs made a winner out of Chris Nicoll (4-1) who earned his fourth win of the year.
Ed Lucas led off the eighth inning against Brandt with a grounder to third for what should have been an easy out but the 3B Smith short hopped the ball to the first baseman allowing Lucas to reach. Brandt settled down to retire the next two batters but then surrendered five unearned runs.
Brandt allowed the next five men to reach base with four hits and a walk before being lifted for another reliever. None of the runs charged to Brandt will affect his ERA due to the error on Smith. Since there were two outs when the runs scored and the first play of the inning should have been an out, all the runs are unearned. The runs still count on the scoreboard however, and the Travs found the task too tall with 11 out of the last 12 men being retired.
Francisco Rodriguez bailed out Brandt in the eighth and after a single in the ninth, induced a double play and struck out the final Nats' batter to extend his scoreless innings streak to 11.1 innings. He has lowered his ERA from 4.65 to 3.93 in that time.
The win for the Naturals and the loss by the Springfield Cardinals moves their magic number to clinch the division to one game. They are now two games up on the Cards with four games to play but since the Nats own the tiebreaker, they essentially have a three-game lead.
Time of game was 3:03 and paid attendance was 4,533.
Boxscore
RHP Amalio Diaz (3-3, 3.78 ERA) will start the game Friday night for the Travelers. He will be opposed by Naturals' RHP Dan Cortes (9-4, 3.98 ERA). Game time is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. with the gates opening at 6:10 p.m.
Texas League Stories from August 28, 2008
- Fireworks and fan appreciation night - Springfield Cardinals
- Nats Rally To Defeat Travs - Arkansas Travelers
- Justin Nelson Leads Tulsa Past Cards - Tulsa Drillers
- Hooks topple âRiders 6-4 - Frisco RoughRiders
- Playoff Tickets on Sale Friday at 9AM - Springfield Cardinals
- Naturals, Kimberly-Clark Pair Up to Assist Boys & Girls Club - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Hooks Squander Six-run Lead, Lose - Corpus Christi Hooks
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