TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Pitchers' Duel Goes Way of Midland in 4-1 Loss

Published on April 28, 2019 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


MIDLAND, Texas - Northwest Arkansas came up short on Sunday afternoon in 4-1 loss to Midland at Security Bank Ballpark. A pair of late home runs soured the quality start for, Ofreidy Gomez as Midland starter, Parker Dunshee tossed eight innings of shutout baseball to silence the Naturals' sticks.

Gomez (1-2, 4.85) pitched brilliantly on Sunday afternoon. The right-hander pitched five shutout frames against the RockHouds before a solo home run in the sixth and a two-run home run spoiled the start in the losing decision. Gomez matched his career-best seven innings of work for the 11th time in his career and second time this season. He scattered seven hits, allowed three runs, no walks and struck out five.

Midland's starter, Dunshee (2-2, 1.74) stifled the Naturals' hitters, holding Northwest Arkansas to just two hits over his eight scoreless frames with eight strikeouts and one walk. Dunshee posted a streak of 12 straight batters retired from the last two outs of the fourth inning through the first out of the eighth.

Northwest Arkansas (10-14) broke through in the ninth against reliever, Kyle Finnegan - who has been in the Texas League since 2014 - with an RBI single by Emmanuel Rivera to score Gabriel Cancel. Cancel prolonged the game with a two-out single, Samir Duenez reached on an error which brought Rivera to the plate. The single extended Rivera's hitting streak to four games, matching a season-high.

Reliever, Grant Gavin pitched the eighth inning and allowed a two-out, run-scoring double to extend Midland's lead to 4-0 after eight innings.

The game lasted just two hours and 12 minutes, the shortest game time of the season, besting the previous shortest, two hours and 15 minutes on April 16 at Arkansas.

Khalil Lee finished 1-for-4 in the game and Kort Peterson (1-for-3) added the other hit.

The Naturals are now 2-5 on the current road trip.

The eight-game road trip concludes with the finale of the four-game series at Security Bank Ballpark in Midland, Texas on Monday, April 229 against the Midland RockHounds (Oakland A's). Right-hander, Andres Sotillet (0-0, 2.884 ERA) takes the hill for his fifth outing, fourth start against right-hander, Logan Verrett (0-0, 5.40 ERA) will toe the slab for the hometown Midlanders.

Catch the live play-by-play action of the road opener in west Texas on Sunday afternoon with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on 92.1-FM, the Ticket at 10:40 a.m. with the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading to first pitch at 11:00 a.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.

Midland RockHounds (13-10) 4, Northwest Arkansas Naturals (10-14) 1

April 28, 2019

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RHE

NW Arkansas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 0

Midland 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 x 4 9 2

NW ArkansasABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG

Heath, CF 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 .205

Lee, RF 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .258

Cancel, 2B 4 1 1 0 0 2 1 .262

Dueñez, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .190

Rivera, E, 3B 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 .256

Fernández, X, C 3 0 0 0 0 2 2 .207

Featherston, SS 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .286

Peterson, LF 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 .172

Jones, T, DH 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 .275

Gomez, O, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Gavin, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 31 1 4 1 1 10 9 .231

BATTING

TB: Cancel; Lee; Peterson; Rivera, E.

RBI: Rivera, E (9).

2-out RBI: Rivera, E.

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Jones, T; Fernández, X.

Team RISP: 1-for-3.

Team LOB: 5.

BASERUNNING

CS: Heath (3, 2nd base by Dunshee/Heim).

PO: Rivera, E (1st base by Dunshee); Heath (1st base by Dunshee).

FIELDING

DP: (Cancel-Featherston-Dueñez).

MidlandABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG

Blanco, CF 4 0 0 0 0 2 2 .328

Deichmann, RF 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 .244

Persico, LF 4 1 2 0 0 0 2 .274

Diaz, E, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .253

Heim, C 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 .296

White, M, 1B 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 .237

Mondou, 2B 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 .227

Theroux, DH 3 1 2 2 0 1 0 .250

Merrell, SS 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 .213

Dunshee, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Finnegan, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 32 4 9 4 0 6 11 .255

BATTING

2B: Heim (5, Gavin).

3B: Mondou (1, Gomez, O).

HR: Deichmann (3, 6th inning off Gomez, O, 0 on, 0 out); Theroux (4, 7th inning off Gomez, O, 1 on, 1 out).

TB: Deichmann 5; Heim 2; Merrell; Mondou 3; Persico 2; Theroux 5.

RBI: Deichmann (11); Heim (12); Theroux 2 (12).

2-out RBI: Heim.

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: White, M; Persico 2.

GIDP: Diaz, E.

Team RISP: 1-for-6.

Team LOB: 5.

FIELDING

E: White, M (4, fielding); Merrell (1, throw).

Pickoffs: Dunshee 2 (Heath at 1st base, Rivera, E at 1st base).

NW ArkansasIPHRERBBSOHRERA

Gomez, O (L, 1-2) 7.0 7 3 3 0 5 2 4.85

Gavin 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 0 5.25

Totals 8.0 9 4 4 0 6 2 3.78

MidlandIPHRERBBSOHRERA

Dunshee (W, 2-2) 8.0 2 0 0 1 8 0 1.74

Finnegan 1.0 2 1 0 0 2 0 2.45

Totals 9.0 4 1 0 1 10 0 3.41

HBP: Fernández, X (by Dunshee); White, M (by Gomez, O).

Pitches-strikes: Gomez, O 92-60; Gavin 18-13; Dunshee 95-65; Finnegan 23-16.

Groundouts-flyouts: Gomez, O 6-6; Gavin 1-1; Dunshee 5-6; Finnegan 2-0.

Batters faced: Gomez, O 28; Gavin 5; Dunshee 27; Finnegan 6.

Umpires: HP: Mike Carroll. 1B: Jeff Gorman. 3B: Tyler Olson.

Weather: 84 degrees, Sunny.

Wind: 12 mph, R To L.

First pitch: 2:03 PM.

T: 2:12.

Att: 4,211.

Venue: Security Bank Ballpark.

April 28, 2019:

Compiled by MLB Advanced Media

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

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