TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Springfield Salvages Series with 10-6 Win

Published on June 21, 2012 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Losers of four in a row, including the last three to the Arkansas Travelers, the Springfield Cardinals ended their slide with a 10-6 win over the Travelers on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.

The final game of this four-game set between the Travelers (1-1, 28-43) and the Cardinals (1-1, 36-36) got off to a slow pace as seven combined runs came around to score in the first inning alone. The Cardinals platted four runs in the top of the first inning; all after Travs' starter A.J. Schugel had recorded two quick outs.

After Schugel issued a two-out free pass to Matt Carpenter, the inning was extended on an error by first baseman, Casey Haerther. The error came when Chris Swauger chopped a ball towards the hole between first and second base. On the play, Haerther ranged to his right to make the play, but the high chopper hit off his glove and skipped on in to the outfield. Jake Shaffer, in the ensuing at-bat, belted a two-run double to get the Cardinals on the board, 2-0. Consecutive RBI singles from Jose Garcia and Greg Garcia followed Shaffer's double and put the Cards up 4-0. None of the Cardinals' runs in the first inning would be charged as earned runs to Schugel's ledger.

In the bottom of the frame, the Travelers loaded the bases without even having to swing the bat a single time as Cardinals starter Kevin Thomas threw 14 consecutive balls to start the game. Resulting from the 14 straight balls were walks to Travis Witherspoon and Jean Segura and a hit-by-pitch to Roberto Lopez to load the bases. Ryan Mount would drive in the Travs' first run when he reached on a fielder's choice that scored Witherspoon, and an error on G. Garcia at shortstop allowed Segura to score as well on the play. A RBI groundout by Haerther pulled the Travs to within a run, 4-3.

A two-out double by Witherspoon in the second inning led to the recent call-up to score his fifth run in two games as a Traveler. After consecutive walks to Segura and Lopez put Witherspoon on third, Mount drew the third consecutive walk, scoring Witherspoon to knot the game at four-all.

The tie score would remain until the fifth inning when Carpenter, who is in Springfield on a Major League rehab assignment, launched a two-run homerun out to straightaway right field. The Cardinals extended their lead to five runs, 9-4, with three more runs in the sixth inning. The Cards did all their sixth-inning damage off of lefty Dakota Robinson, who came on in relief of Schugel to start the inning. Robinson gave up four hits in the inning, including a two-run double by Jermaine Curtis.

Kolten Wong added a run of insurance in the top of the eighth inning off of Orangel Arenas as singled in Adam Melker. The Travs would go quietly in order in the bottom of the frame and now trailed 10-5.

After swinging strikeouts in his previous two at-bats, Witherspoon got back to being an offensive catalyst as he drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth inning. After a steal of second and advancing to third on a passed ball by Travis Tartamella, Witherspoon was on third with one out. He would then come home to score his third run of the game on a RBI groundout by Lopez. It is the second straight game that Witherspoon has scored three runs. A night ago, Witherspoon scored all three of the Travelers' runs in their 3-0 win over Springfield.

Despite giving up the run, Keith Butler successfully short the door in a relatively easy manner to secure the 10-6 win for the Cardinals and snap their four-game losing streak and also end the Travs' three-game winning streak in the process.

Michael Blazek (3-5) earned the win after working 3.1 hitless innings after coming on in relief of Thomas back in the second inning. Schugel (3-7), who will pitch in the upcoming Texas League All-Star Game, is saddled with the loss.

The Travelers will now hit the road for a four-game series with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals before hitting the All-Star Break at the conclusion of the series. The first game with the Naturals is set for a 7:00 pm start on Friday night at Arvest Ball Park.

Check out the Arkansas Travelers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from June 21, 2012


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