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TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Stout Pitching Stymies Naturals in Loss to Travelers

June 22, 2015 - Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Sometimes good pitching does beat good hitting and that point was exhibited tonight at Dickey-Stephens Park with the Arkansas Travelers (36-33) defeating the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (40-30) on Monday night. With the loss, the first half comes to the close with the Naturals finishing the first half as North Division Champions and 10 games over .500.

Northwest Arkansas jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the third inning off Arkansas starter Albert Suarez (7-5, 3.07). Catcher Parker Morin singled to begin the frame and found his way over the third base with two outs in the third. Alex Liddi stepped in and smacked the first pitch he saw into the left-centerfield ally to plate Morin easily from third base to give the Naturals a 1-0 lead.

The double by Liddi is his 17th of the season. He has now doubled in four straight games for the Naturals.

The Travelers sent 11 men to bat in the bottom of the third inning and score five runs (three earned) off starter Jonathan Dziedzic (4-4, 3.71) to take a 5-1 advantage. The bullpen of the Travelers stymied the sticks from there on out. Suarez tossed 6.0 innings of one run baseball while Eduardo Santos and all-star Chris O'Grady worked the final three frames scoreless.

Dziedzic grinded through 5.0 innings of work allowing three earned runs on nine hits with five strikeouts. Outside of the third inning, the left-hander looked very good retiring seven of the final eight batters faced.

The Naturals bullpen stayed strong against the Travelers with Ali Williams and Benino Pruneda working the final three frames of shutout baseball.

Northwest Arkansas' back-end men now hold a 2.28 ERA in 51.1 innings against the Travelers amassing 47 strikeouts over the 14-game stretch. Northwest Arkansas leads the season series 12-2 over Arkansas.

Jorge Bonifacio extended his hitting streak to eight games with a pair of singles in the contest while Bubba Starling tacked on his eighth double of the year. Parker Morin enjoyed a 2-for-3 night with a run scored to account for the Naturals lone run.

The second half the Texas League championship season begins with a 7:10 first pitch from Dickey-Stephens Park on Tuesday night.

Newly added right-hander Jakob Junis will make his Double-A debut against the Travelers right-hander Chris Ellis (1-0, 0.75) for the pitching match-up on Tuesday night.

Tune in with the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, on Tuesday night at 6:55 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading up to the first pitch on the Naturals flagship station, 92.1 - FM, the Ticket.

Follow the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Twitter @nwanaturals throughout the year by using the hashtag #NaturalPastime for all of our up-to-date information on tickets, groups, promotions, and team-related information.

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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Texas League Stories from June 22, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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