TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Missions Even Series with 9-1 Win over Naturals

April 16, 2018 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SAN ANTONIO - Under the hot sunshine at Wolff Stadium on Monday afternoon, the San Antonio Missions beat the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, 9-1 to even the three-game series at a game each.

San Antonio (7-4) plated four runs on four hits in the third inning against Naturals' starter, Foster Griffin (1-1, 3.09) and took control from then on. Griffin finished 2.2 innings, allowed four runs, three earned, on five hits with two walks and one strikeouts. Left-hander, Sam Selman, notched the final out of the third and pitched a perfect fourth inning with two strikeouts.

Northwest Arkansas (4-7) got on the board in the top of the fifth frame to trim the Missions lead to 4-1. Anderson Miller reached on a fielding error by San Antonio first baseman, Josh Naylor and moved to second after Nate Esposito's single to leftfield. Following a sacrifice bunt from Nicky Lopez to move both runners up, designated hitter, Salvador Perez brought home Miller from third with a sacrifice fly to leftfield for the club's lone tally on the day.

The Missions tacked on four runs during the fifth frame to take an 8-1 lead and added a ninth run in the sixth inning to make it a 9-1 ballgame.

Pedro Fernandez worked 1.2 innings of relief and allowed one run. Left-hander, Jake Kalish pitched the seventh and eighth frames and retired six of the seven hitters faced with two strikeouts to complete his outing.

Centerfielder, Donnie Dewees, extended his hitting streak in the fourth inning with a two-out triple. Dewees is now 9-for-23 (.391) during his current stretch. Nicky Lopez has hit safely in five straight contests going 1-for-2 this afternoon and Samir Duenez singled in the ninth frame and has tabbed at least one hit in nine of his first 11 games.

The Naturals are 2-3 on the current six-game road trip.

Northwest Arkansas looks to clinch its first series win in San Antonio since 2015 when the Naturals took the final two games of the series in mid-August. It would be just the club's third series win in the Alamo City since the team's inception in 2008. The 2011 Naturals took two-out-of-three from the Missions in early-July for the team's first series win at the Wolff. Northwest Arkansas is 19-41 against the Missions in San Antonio in franchise history.

Right-hander, Zach Lovvorn (0-0, 5.87) takes the hill for his second start of the road trip and third start on the year. He'll be opposite of former Natural and current San Diego Padres rehabber, left-hander, Matt Strahm.

Lovvorn has twice pitched against San Antonio in his career. The 23-year old made his Double-A debut against the Missions on Opening Day, 2017 at Arvest Ballpark and struck out eight hitters over six innings of one-hit baseball. He made a relief outing in July v. San Antonio and pitched 2.1 innings of shutout relief.

With Strahm starting in Game 3, he will be the fifth left-handed starter to face the Naturals through the first 12 games of 2018. Northwest Arkansas is 1-3 against left-handed starters this season.

Join the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, with a 6:45 p.m. pregame show, leading up to first pitch on 92.1 the Ticket and the Naturals Radio Network at 7:05 p.m.

Follow the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Facebook and Twitter @NWANaturals all throughout the year by using the hashtag #NaturalPastime and #CrowntoCrown for all of our up-to-date information on the 2018 season of Naturals baseball.

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



Texas League Stories from April 16, 2018


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