Cancel's Grand Night Not Enough In 7-6 Loss
April 25, 2019 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Infielder, Gabriel Cancel, drove-in a career-high five runs and whacked a grand slam on Wednesday night; but a late home run sent the Northwest Arkansas to a 7-6 loss at Whataburger Field on a wet night in Corpus Christi.
Cancel stepped to the plate with the bags full and two-outs in the third inning against Hooks' starter, Brandan Bailey, and clobbered a first pitch fastball at the bottom of the zone beyond the leftfield wall to cut the Northwest Arkansas deficit to 5-4. The second baseman later tied the score in the fifth inning after Nick Heath and Khalil Lee drew back-to-back one-out walks against reliever, Brenden Feldman. Cancel singled into leftfield to score Heath from third and put runners at the corners.
Samir Duenez then came to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to medium leftfield and Lee scampered home to score the go-ahead run, sliding just ahead of the tag by catcher, Chuckie Taylor to put the Naturals in-front, 6-5 in the fifth.
In the ensuing half inning, right-hander, Grant Gavin (3-2, 4.91 ERA) walked the lead-off batter and surrendered a full-count, two-run home run to Josh Rojas, pushing the Hooks back in-front, 7-6. The home run proved to be the deciding factor.
After Northwest Arkansas (9-11) batted in the top of the sixth inning, the rain poured and sent the game into a 45 minute rain delay beginning at 8:30 p.m. CST. The game resumed play in the bottom of the sixth at 9:15 with Gavin still in the game. The 23-year old erased a lead-off walk by inducing a 6-4-3 double-play to end the frame. The Naturals rolled three double-plays in the contest for the third time this year.
The Naturals faced an early 5-0 deficit on Wednesday night. Corpus Christi centerfielder, Ronnie Dawson hit a lead-off home run to highlight a three-run first inning for the hometown Hooks and followed up with a two-run in the third inning, giving Corpus Christi (10-10) a 5-0 lead off starter, Andres Sotillet. The 22-year old right-hander for the Naturals went four innings, allowed five runs on seven hits with three walks and struck out five while inducing his league-leading seventh double-play. He surrendered two home runs in his start for just the third time in his career and first time since July, 2017.
The Naturals bats turned silent by Hooks newly-added reliever, Carlos Sanabria who retired the first seven man faced starting in the seventh inning. Northwest Arkansas had the tying run at second base in the ninth frame with two-outs, but Sanabria struck out the final hitter of the game to complete the nine-out save.
Right-hander, Franco Terrero covered the seventh and eighth innings of relief for the Naturals pitched two perfect frames with two strikeouts. Terrero has struck out six of the last 10 batters faced in the current series.
Cancel's five-RBI game is the first of his career, surpassing his previous high of four RBI game in June, 2018. He hit the first grand slam for the Naturals of the 2019 season and the first since Mauricio Ramos' grand slam in 2017.
The finale of the four-game set is slated for 6:15 on Thursday night. Right-hander, Conner Greene (2-0, 1.57 ERA) looks to win his second straight start and split the set against Corpus Christi. The Hooks will counter with former first round pick in 2017, right-hander, J.B. Bukauskas (0-3, 19.13 ERA) at Whataburger Field.
Catch the live play-by-play action of the road opener in Corpus Christi on Thursday night with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on the flagship station of the Naturals, 92.1-FM the Ticket at 5:55 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading to first pitch at 6:15 p.m.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark. For more information, including statistics, ticket options, and more, please visit NWANaturals.com, and follow us on Twitter @NWANaturals and Facebook.com/Naturals.
-Naturals-
Corpus Christi Hooks (10-10) 7, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (9-11) 6
April 24, 2019
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RHE
NW Arkansas 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 4 1
Corpus Christi 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 x 7 8 2
NW ArkansasABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG
Heath, CF 3 2 0 0 2 3 1 .179
Lee, RF 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 .293
Cancel, 2B 4 1 2 5 0 1 0 .250
Dueñez, 1B 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 .206
Rivera, E, DH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .243
a-Miller, PH-DH 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 .286
Featherston, SS 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 .314
Fernández, X, C 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 .231
Peterson, LF 4 0 0 0 0 3 3 .191
Burt, 3B 4 1 1 0 0 2 2 .234
Sotillet, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Gavin, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Terrero, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 32 6 4 6 4 16 10 .236
a-Struck out for Rivera, E in the 4th.
BATTING
HR: Cancel (5, 3rd inning off Bailey, 3 on, 2 out).
TB: Burt; Cancel 5; Fernández, X.
RBI: Cancel 5 (17); Dueñez (13).
2-out RBI: Cancel 4.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Heath.
SF: Dueñez.
Team RISP: 2-for-4.
Team LOB: 4.
BASERUNNING
SB: Peterson (2, 2nd base off Sanabria, C/Robinson); Heath (11, 2nd base off Feldmann/Robinson).
FIELDING
E: Burt (5, fielding).
DP: 3 (3 Featherston-Cancel-Dueñez).
Corpus ChristiABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG
Dawson, CF 3 2 2 3 1 1 1 .233
Wrenn, RF 4 1 2 0 0 0 3 .310
Toro, 1B 4 1 1 1 0 1 3 .260
Goetzman, DH 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 .228
Rojas, 3B 4 1 1 2 0 1 2 .263
McCormick, LF 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .271
Robinson, C 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .224
Duarte, SS 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 .294
Sierra, A, 2B 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 .196
Bailey, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Feldmann, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Scheetz, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Sanabria, C, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 30 7 8 6 5 8 12 .251
BATTING
2B: Toro (4, Sotillet).
HR: Rojas (1, 5th inning off Gavin, 1 on, 0 out); Dawson 2 (5, 1st inning off Sotillet, 0 on, 0 out, 2nd inning off Sotillet, 1 on, 2 out).
TB: Dawson 8; Rojas 4; Sierra, A 2; Toro 2; Wrenn 2.
RBI: Dawson 3 (9); Rojas 2 (15); Toro (17).
2-out RBI: Dawson 2.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Toro 2.
GIDP: Duarte; Rojas; Wrenn.
Team RISP: 0-for-4.
Team LOB: 4.
BASERUNNING
SB: Rojas (6, 2nd base off Sotillet/Fernández, X).
FIELDING
E: Sierra, A (1, fielding); Rojas (5, fielding).
NW ArkansasIPHRERBBSOHRERA
Sotillet 4.0 7 5 5 3 5 2 2.84
Gavin (L, 3-2) 2.0 1 2 2 2 1 1 4.91
Terrero 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 7.00
Totals 8.0 8 7 7 5 8 3 3.73
Corpus ChristiIPHRERBBSOHRERA
Bailey 4.0 3 4 4 1 7 1 3.86
Feldmann (W, 1-0) 1.1 1 2 2 3 2 0 2.79
Scheetz (H, 2) 0.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 5.27
Sanabria, C (S, 1) 3.0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0.00
Totals 9.0 4 6 6 4 16 1 5.67
WP: Sotillet; Bailey.
Pitches-strikes: Sotillet 89-50; Gavin 32-18; Terrero 16-13; Bailey 73-46; Feldmann 37-20; Scheetz 9-6; Sanabria, C 42-26.
Groundouts-flyouts: Sotillet 4-1; Gavin 3-1; Terrero 3-0; Bailey 2-3; Feldmann 0-1; Scheetz 0-0; Sanabria, C 3-1.
Batters faced: Sotillet 21; Gavin 8; Terrero 6; Bailey 17; Feldmann 8; Scheetz 2; Sanabria, C 10.
Inherited runners-scored: Scheetz 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Tyler Olson. 1B: Mike Carroll. 3B: Jeff Gorman.
Weather: 77 degrees, Cloudy.
Wind: 20 mph, R To L.
First pitch: 6:19 PM.
T: 2:51 (:49 delay).
Att: 3,212.
Venue: Whataburger Field.
April 24, 2019:
Compiled by MLB Advanced Media
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Texas League Stories from April 25, 2019
- Clutch Hit Eludes Naturals In 4-3 Loss To Hooks - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Drillers Survive for Game One Win in Midland - Tulsa Drillers
- Dawson's Dingers Help Hooks to 7-6 Win Wednesday - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Cancel's Grand Night Not Enough In 7-6 Loss - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
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