Junis, Ramos Spoil the Party in Tulsa, 3-1 Win over Drillers
June 9, 2016 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
TULSA, Okla. - Jake Junis twirled six-innings of one-run baseball while Mauricio Ramos drove in two of the three Naturals' runs on Thursday night in Northwest Arkansas' 3-1 win over Tulsa at ONEOK Field. The victory for Junis (6-3, 2.49) is his third straight win, becoming the first Naturals' pitcher since Miguel Almonte in 2015 to win three consecutive starts.
The Naturals' starting hurler retired the final 11 batters he faced, quieting Tulsa's offensive attack. Northwest Arkansas handed the Drillers (33-25) the club's first loss since May 27, snapping the franchise-record 10-game winning streak.
Northwest Arkansas (28-31) plated a pair of early runs off Tulsa starter, Tim Shibuya (0-2, 2.36) with the initial tally coming in the first inning. Ryan O'Hearn roped a two-out double in the opening frame - his 10th of the year - into right-center and moved to third after Tulsa shortstop, Drew Maggi, bobbled a ground-ball off the bat of Mauricio Ramos.
Shibuya uncorked a wild pitch two pitches later to allow O'Hearn to score giving the Naturals a 1-0 lead.
In the third inning, Northwest Arkansas doubled the lead when Corey Toups ignited a string of three straight singles. Ramos recorded the final single in the stretch and plated Toups from second on a one-out base-hit to center, extending the advantage to 2-0.
The Drillers scored their lone run in the bottom of the third when Junis and the Naturals elected to trade a two-out double play for a run, cutting the club's lead to 2-1 after three innings. The final out of the third inning commenced the streak of 11 straight retired by Junis before his night ended.
The Rock Falls, Ill. native allowed one run on three hits with four strikeouts and a walk en route to a six-inning performance.
The Naturals made it a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning after Toups opened the frame against reliever, Rob Rogers, with a walk. Two batters later, Ramos sliced a tailing double into right-center over the head of pursing right-fielder Alex Verdugo to score Toups from first.
Right-hander, Kevin McCarthy, worked perfect eighth and ninth innings to notch his 11th save of the season and his sixth straight save. McCarthy extended his season-best scoreless inning streak to 15.2 innings tonight with the two perfect frames.
Left-hander, Kyle Bartsch tossed a scoreless seventh inning to bridge the gap to McCarthy. Since re-joining the Royals organization on May 20, Bartsch has allowed one run over his first 10.2 innings across seven outings.
Ramos finished 2-for-4 on the night with the two runs-batted in while O'Hearn notched a 2-for-4 evening.
The series concludes on Friday night, June 10, from ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Okla. as the Naturals send right-hander, Ashton Goudeau (1-2, 2.84) to the mound for his fourth start against Drillers' right-hander, Chase De Jong (5-4, 2.85) for the finale.
Join the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, with an 6:45 p.m. pregame show from ONEOK Field, leading up to the 7:05 p.m. first pitch on the flagship station of the Naturals, 92.1-FM, the Ticket.
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