TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Streak Hits Five, Naturals Beat Hooks 7-4

Published on April 22, 2019 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A four-run third frame catalyzed the Naturals to a 7-4 win over the Corpus Christi Hooks at Whataburger Field on Monday night. The victory moves the Northwest Arkansas win streak to five straight, the longest of the 2019 season.

Northwest Arkansas (9-9) did something only seen in Little League games. Anderson Miller, originally slated to bat eighth in the line-up, reached on an error by Hooks' second baseman, Josh Rojas, to start the frame. Travis Jones and Khalil Lee then popped out for the first and second outs of the inning. DJ Burt laid down a bunt single up the first baseline and a walk to Gabriel Cancel loaded the bases.

Left-hander, Brett Adcock (0-3, 15.83 ERA) faced Samir Duenez and gave him a 1-2 fast ball, which Duenez roped up the middle to plate two runs, giving the Naturals a 3-2 lead at that moment. Emmanuel Rivera then doubled down the leftfield line and score two more runs, making it a four-run inning and pushing the advantage to 5-2.

This frame all counted despite the fact the Naturals batted out-of-order. The line-up card exchanged at home plate prior to first pitch had Miller hitting ninth and Jones batting eighth. Corpus Christi (8-10) never caught the out-of-order miscue and the Naturals four runs all remained.

According to the Major League Baseball rule book, this violates rule 6.01(a). Batting out of turn is ignored by rule unless a member of the defensive team notifies the umpire that an infraction has occurred. Once the umpire is notified, he enforces the rule based on the batting order he had received, which says that the batter is out.

Right-hander, Gerson Garabito (1-1, 5.00 ERA) earned his first win as a Naturals pitching five innings, allowed four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and four walks. Garabito stranded five runners on-base in his outing.

Reliever, Andrew Beckwith bridged the gap in the middle innings with a scoreless sixth and seventh frame while he struck out two batters and scattered three hits.

Northwest Arkansas provided insurance in the eighth inning with a run-scoring double by Taylor Featherston and a sacrifice fly by Jones, scoring Meibrys Viloria from third base.

Right-hander, Franco Terrero struck out three hitters in the eighth frame, working around an error and left-hander, Gabe Speier pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his third straight save.

Gabriel Cancel whacked his second home run in as many games to give Northwest Arkansas an early 1-0 lead. He leads the team with four home runs.

The Naturals hit 3-for-7 with men in scoring position on Monday night. Featherston and Duenez led the club with two hits each and both drove in two runs in the win.

The second game of the four-game set is slated for 6:15 on Tuesday night. Reigning Texas League Pitcher of the Week, Ofreidy Gomez (1-0, 3.94 ERA) takes the ball for his third straight road start against Corpus Christi right-hander, Tyler Ivey (1-0. 0.82 ERA).

Catch the live play-by-play action of the road opener in Corpus Christi on Monday night with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on AM-1590, Ticket-2 starting at 5:55 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading to first pitch at 6:15 p.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.

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Texas League Stories from April 22, 2019


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.

OurSports Central