TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Hernandez Corrals Cardinals in 4-1 Win

Published on May 11, 2019 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Starter, Arnaldo Hernandez authored seven inning of three-hit, shutout baseball, Travis Jones cracked a two-run, second inning home run and the Naturals snapped a seven game losing skid, all in the same night. Northwest Arkansas beat the Springfield Cardinals, 4-1 at Hammons Field on Friday night in front of 5,846 fans.

Hernandez (1-0, 0.00 ERA) joined the Naturals on May 8 from Triple-A, Omaha after struggling at the Royals' highest-level affiliate in six outings. The 23-year old looked nothing like his numbers suggested, entering with a 10.58 ERA with the Storm Chasers. Hernandez faced the minimum through three frames, picked off two baserunners at first to thwart early-inning threats from the Cardinals and logged a streak of nine straight retired hitters.

His final line read seven innings, three hits, no runs, four walks and six strikeouts. It marked his longest outing since he threw a nine-inning complete game on Aug. 15, 2018 with Omaha against Oklahoma City. He allowed two runners to reach scoring position all night and none advanced to third.

The offense aided Hernandez early against Cardinals starter Harold Arauz (0-3, 7.65 ERA) when Jones torqued a first-pitch fastball over the leftfield wall for a two-run shot in the second inning, giving the Naturals an early 2-0 lead. After Arauz left following the fourth, the bats scored twice more in the fifth inning.

Meibrys Viloria snapped an 0-fer-18 skid with a sharp single to right, moved to third base on a single by Jones to rightfield and Kort Peterson scored Viloria from third with a sacrifice fly to center, moving Jones to third. Blake Perkins smacked his second hit of the night over the drawn-in infield's heads into rightcenter to increase the Naturals' lead to 4-0.

Northwest Arkansas (13-20) collected a dozen hits, the most by the club since they had 10 hits on April 20. The six-through-nine hitters combined to go 10-for-20 with all four hitters collecting two hits in the contest and providing all the runs batted in.

Angelo Castellano debuted tonight for the Naturals and finished 2-for-3 with a walk at the plate. Nick Heath made his return to the line-up after missing six games due to a shoulder injury and recorded an infield single with two stolen bags. The Naturals swiped three bases on Friday night, matching a season-high for the fourth time this season.

The Naturals took the Cardinals pitching staff to 13 three-ball counts, drawing five walks in the contest.

Left-hander, Gabe Speier worked 1.2 innings and allowed his first run in 11 inning of work. Franco Terrero got the final out in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and achieve his second save of the year.

The victory at Hammons Field snapped a seven-game losing skid for the Naturals, dating back to July, 2018. It's the first victory for the Natural nine since July 27, 2018.

Northwest Arkansas looks to take the advantage in the four-game set on Saturday, May 11 against the Springfield Cardinals (13-21) at Hammons Field with a 6:10 first pitch. Right-hander, Gerson Garabito (2-2, 3.90 ERA) will match-up against Cardinals' right-hander, Johan Oviedo (0-0, 4.85 ERA) tomorrow night.

Join Benjamin Kelly for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show beginning at 5:50 p.m. leading up to the 6:10 first pitch on 92.1-FM, the Ticket and on the MiLB First Pitch app.

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.

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

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