Naturals Get Offensive in Sweep of Cardinals
June 7, 2019 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release
SPRINGDALE, Ark - The Naturals (27-33) got offensive in a doubleheader sweep of the Cardinals (23-38) on Friday night as Northwest Arkansas scores 16 runs on 22 hits in their two wins over Springfield. The 9-7 and 7-2 victories guarantees the Naturals at least a split of the 4-game series, which is the final series between the two clubs at Arvest Ballpark this season.
GAME 1: NATURALS - 9, CARDINALS - 7
In Game 1 on Friday night, Brady Singer made his highly-anticipated Arvest Ballpark debut. The Royals' top-ranked prospect and former 18th overall selection in the 2018 draft gave up a couple early runs in the first on a double by Dylan Carlson and a triple by Kramer Robertson but was then staked to a big lead and kept his team in the driver's seat the rest of the way.
The Naturals wasted little time to begin their big offensive night as Nick Heath immediately tripled and scored on a Khalil Lee double to begin the home half of the frame. Back-to-back singles by Gabriel Cancel and Emmanuel Rivera brought home Lee to tie the game at 2-2. Anderson Miller, Taylor Featherston and Meibrys Viloria all followed with RBI singles before Travis Jones completed the first inning barrage with a sacrifice fly to give Northwest Arkansas a commanding 6-2 lead after an inning of play.
The next inning would see the Naturals add two more tallies as Viloria collected a two-run single for his third RBI of the game.
Springfield cut the deficit to 8-3 before Northwest Arkansas would extend it back out to 9-3 on another RBI single by Miller.
The visitors would rally for three runs in the fourth on a three-run homer by Johan Mieses and then another in the fifth on a Conner Capel run-scoring single but the Naturals bullpen would shut the door the rest of the way to secure the 9-7 victory.
Grant Gavin (W, 4-3) earned his team-leading fourth win by striking out all four batters he faced while Yunior Marte (S, 1) earned the save with a clean seventh. Meanwhile, Singer lasted 4.2 innings giving up 10 hits, seven runs and striking out one.
Williams Perez (L, 6-3) took the loss for the Redbirds after allowing six runs on seven hits through just 0.1 of an inning of work.
Northwest Arkansas collected 14 hits in the seven-inning affair as six players had multi-hit games in Heath, Lee, Rivera, Miller, Featherston and Viloria, whom led the way with three RBIs while Featherston knocked in two in the Game 1 victory.
GAME 2: NATURALS - 7, CARDINALS - 2
In Game 2, the Naturals kept on scoring runs while the pitching of J.C. Cloney (W, 2-1) and big league veteran Drew Storen slowed down the Cardinals attack. Cloney was solid throughout the night as he scattered seven hits and limited the Cardinals to just a run in 6.0 innings of work. Storen then worked the seventh and gave up a run on two hits while striking out the side.
Similar to the first game of the twin-bill, the Cardinals scored a run in the first but would see the Naturals answer immediately as they would tie it up as Nick Heath singled to right-center, stole two bases, then scored on a throwing error by the catcher. Heath would finish the night with three stolen bases giving him 36 on the year - a total that leads all of Minor League baseball.
Northwest Arkansas would go on to take the lead for good in the second as Nate Esposito had a two-out, two-run double.
Solo home runs by Khalil Lee in the third and Angelo Castellano in the fourth put the Naturals up by a 5-1 margin. Then in the seventh, Emmanuel Rivera collected a two-run single to complete the scoring for Northwest Arkansas and set the final at 7-1.
Northwest Arkansas will continue their 7-game homestand with Game 3 of this 4-game set against the Springfield Cardinals (Double-A St. Louis) tomorrow night - Saturday, June 8th - with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Fans will enjoy a Dri-Fit Northwest Arkansas Naturals T-Shirt giveaway courtesy of Gorilla Glue as well as our Bullpen Craft Beer Bar Happy Hour from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. The Naturals will give the baseball to right-hander Gerson Garabito (3-3, 3.65 ERA) while the Cardinals will counter with Johan Oviedo (1-2, 7.03 ERA). Catch all of the live play-by-play action with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on KQSM - 92.1 The Ticket at 5:45 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading up to first pitch.
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.
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