Opportunities knock, Naturals fail to answer
September 19, 2009 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
SPRINGDALE, AR - Raul Padron's two-run homer in the top of the 12th inning broke the 2-2 tie as the Midland RockHounds beat the Naturals 4-2, winning the Texas League Championship.
Padron's two-out blast to right off Ben Swaggerty (0-1) scored Matt Spencer, who had singled with one out in the top of the 12th. Swaggerty was the third pitcher to come on in relief of starter Everett Teaford, who pitched six innings of scoreless ball in his only playoff start. He lasted through the first six frames, allowing five hits, walking two, and striking out four.
Lost in the shuffle of the four-hour and six minute game was the dominating effort by Midland starter Tyson Ross, who shackled the Naturals' offense for six innings. He allowed just three hits over six innings, fanning 11 batters and issuing just one walk.
Northwest Arkansas was able to put the first runs of the game on the board in the seventh inning, when Midland elected to go to the big right-hander Jon Hunton, who had been their primary closer for much of the postseason. The Naturals attacked Hunton quickly. David Lough singled and moved to third on a double from Corey Smith. Vance Wilson's sacrifice fly brough in Lough, and Cody Clark singled through the hole on the right side of the infield to score Smith. That put the Naturals up 2-0, but they were unable to get any more as Marc Maddox grounded into a force out and Jarrod Dyson's liner was speared by Midland second baseman Corey Wimberly to end the inning.
For the eighth, the Naturals turned to their closer, Aaron Hartsock, who got into an immediate jam, allowing consecutive leadoff singles to Wimberly and Jemile Weeks. Josh Donaldson followed and bunted towards the mound and Hartsock was able to field it cleanly and relay it to third to get the speedy Wimberly. Matt Spencer then flied out and Alex Valdez popped out to strand the runners.
The pitching parade was on in earnest for Midland at that point, as they shuffled through two more relievers to get though the eighth. Steven Sharpe came on and got two quick outs before Ed Lucas singled through the hole into left. Midland summoned Carlos Hernandez, their lone lefty, to face left-handed hitting David Lough, and Hernandez got Lough to ground out to third.
A costly error by Hartsock would cost the Naturals in the top of the ninth. Shane Peterson bunted to first and Hartsock couldn't field the ball cleanly, allowing Peterson to reach first. Pinch-runner Matt Sulentic came in to run for Peterson, and the next batter Corey Brown launched a 2-2 pitch from Hartsock into the Subway Berm area in right field to tie the ballgame at two, sending it to extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth, Mickey Storey became the fourth Midland reliever of the evening and Raul Padron, who is the backup catcher, came on to play first base for Peterson who had been lifted for the pinch runner. It was Padron who three innings later would hit the two-run blast that would end the ballgame. Storey allowed a one-out single to Vance Wilson but nothing more as the game headed to extras.
The Naturals best opportunity came in the bottom of the tenth against Justin Friend, the fifth Midland reliever of the game. Friend walked Jarrod Dyson and Kurt Mertins to lead off the inning, and was removed immediately for right-hander Jason Fernandez. The first batter Fernandez faced, Jeff Bianchi, grounded into a force bunt, and Fernandez was able to get the lead runner Dyson at third. Both runners moved up 90 feet on Ed Lucas' subsequent groundout, bringing the winning run within 90 feet. After Fernandez walked David Lough to load the bases, Corey Smith worked the count to 3-1 but grounded into a force out to strand the bases loaded.
The Naturals were able to get a runner to second with two out in the 11th but were unable to get him in. The tying run also came to the plate in the bottom of the 12th with one out, but Jared Lansford, the seventh relief pitcher for Midland, got Ed Lucas and David Lough, the final two batters, to earn his second save in as many nights and make a winner out of Fernandez (1-0), who stranded four runners in two innings.
In both of the home playoff losses to Midland, Northwest Arkansas was a combined 2-for-21 with runners in scoring position as their inabilities to come up with the one key hit despite several opportunities caused their season to come to an unfortunate end as Midland won its first Texas League Championship since defeating the Arkansas Travelers to win it for the 2005 season.
The Naturals open the 2010 season on Thursday, April 8th. To all our loyal fans who supported us throughout the 2009 season and our playoff run, THANK YOU!!! See you next year!
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. The Naturals have a toll-free ticket hotline (1-877-444-2637) for fans to purchase Naturals tickets. Our website, nwanaturals.com offers fans the opportunity to purchase tickets online and avoid lines at the ticket windows by printing their tickets at home or at the office.
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Texas League Stories from September 19, 2009
- Opportunities knock, Naturals fail to answer - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
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