TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Streak Snapped, Naturals Even Series in Midland

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


MIDLAND, Texas - Nick Heath's squeeze bunt to score Travis Jones in the ninth inning sealed the deal for the Naturals as the club snapped its pesky four-game losing skid with a 3-1 win over the Midland RockHounds on Saturday night at Security Bank Ballpark.

Jones smacked his second hit of the night up the middle, stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch with one out to set up the squeeze bunt executed by lead-off man, Heath. The bunt came on a 2-1 pitch from Midland reliever, Angel Duno as the ball placed perfectly up the first-baseline to score Jones standing up.

Reliever, Franco Terrero fired two innings of shutout relief in the eighth and ninth innings to notch his first save of the season. Terrero has now going 5.0 innings of scoreless relief in three appearances over the current road trip with six strikeouts and one walk.

Northwest Arkansas (10-13) took 1-0 lead off starter, Brian Howard (2-1, 1.73 ERA) in the third inning with Jones and Heath teaming up again. Jones singled to leftfield and moved to second following the bobble of his hit. He advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Heath to centerfield. Gabriel Cancel smacked a solo home run just over the 322-foot marker down the rightfield line - his sixth of the season and third of the road trip - to extend the Naturals advantage to 2-0.

Starter, Gerson Garabito (2-1, 3.91 ERA) scuffled to find his command in the first two innings, matching a career-high in walks with five over his first two frames. Garabito tip-toed around a bases-loaded jam in the second to keep the game scoreless at that juncture. He settled in once the Naturals gave him the lead and allowed three singles and no man to scoring position over his final three innings.

Garabito picked up his second win of the season and road trip with five innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts and three hits scattered and shaved a full run off his earned run average.

Right-hander, Yunior Marte allowed the lone Midland tally in the seventh inning when the inning began with a defensive error. The run counted as unearned and Marte finished two innings with three strikeouts and three walks.

The Naturals pitching staff walked a season-high 10 batters in the outing and still won the game. Northwest Arkansas is now 2-0 with the team walks nine batters or more with wins on April 7 v. Springfield and Saturday night at Midland.

Cancel finished 2-for-4 with his home run and his sixth double of season. He driven in 10 runs over the last six games with three homers, two doubles and batting .292 over the trek. Heath finished 2-for-3 and has mutli-hit games in back-to-back contests for the first time this season. Jones recorded two knocks on the night with two runs scored. The former Texas Longhorn has hit safely in six of his last eight games with a .409 (9-for-22) average during the stretch.

The eight-game road trip continues with game three of the four-game series at Security Bank Ballpark in Midland, Texas on Sunday, April 28 against the Midland RockHounds (Oakland A's). Right-hander, Ofreidy Gomez (1-1, 5.21 ERA) takes the hill for his fourth straight road start. Right-hander, Parker Dunshee (1-2, 2.35 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 1:40 p.m. with the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading to first pitch at 2:00 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.

-Naturals-

Northwest Arkansas Naturals (10-13) 3, Midland RockHounds (12-10) 1

April 27, 2019

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RHE

NW Arkansas 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 9 1

Midland 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 1

NW ArkansasABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG

Heath, CF 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 .213

Lee, RF 5 0 0 0 0 1 3 .259

Cancel, 2B 4 1 2 1 0 1 3 .263

Dueñez, DH 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .200

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

Viloria, C 3 0 1 0 1 1 1 .129

Featherston, SS 4 0 1 0 0 3 2 .296

Peterson, LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 .164

Jones, T, 1B 3 2 2 0 1 0 2 .292

Garabito, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Marte, Y, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Terrero, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 34 3 9 3 2 10 16 .235

BATTING

2B: Cancel (6, Howard).

HR: Cancel (6, 5th inning off Howard, 0 on, 2 out).

TB: Cancel 6; Featherston; Heath 2; Jones, T 2; Rivera, E; Viloria.

RBI: Cancel (21); Heath 2 (7).

2-out RBI: Cancel.

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cancel 2; Jones, T; Dueñez 2.

SAC: Heath.

SF: Heath.

Team RISP: 0-for-6.

Team LOB: 8.

BASERUNNING

SB: Lee (8, 2nd base off Howard/Theroux); Jones, T (6, 2nd base off Duno/Theroux).

FIELDING

E: Heath (1, fielding).

DP: 2 (2 Cancel-Featherston-Jones, T).

MidlandABRHRBIBBSOLOBAVG

Calabuig, CF-LF 3 0 0 0 2 0 3 .273

Persico, LF-1B 3 0 2 0 2 1 0 .261

Deichmann, RF 4 0 1 0 1 2 6 .232

Heim, DH 4 0 0 1 0 0 5 .300

Diaz, E, 3B 2 0 0 0 2 1 3 .268

Miller, 1B 3 0 1 0 1 1 2 .220

1-Blanco, PR-CF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .350

Theroux, C 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 .222

Merrell, SS 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .208

Perez, B, 2B 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 .196

a-Mondou, PH-2B 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .222

Howard, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Cochran-Gill, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Duno, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 28 1 4 1 10 9 27 .253

a-Flied out for Perez, B in the 8th. 1-Ran for Miller in the 8th.

BATTING

TB: Deichmann; Miller; Persico 2.

RBI: Heim (11).

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Calabuig 2; Diaz, E; Heim; Mondou.

SAC: Theroux.

SF: Heim.

GIDP: Deichmann; Heim.

Team RISP: 0-for-8.

Team LOB: 12.

FIELDING

E: Persico (2, fielding).

PB: Theroux (3).

NW ArkansasIPHRERBBSOHRERA

Garabito (W, 2-1) 5.0 3 0 0 5 5 0 3.91

Marte, Y (H, 3) 2.0 0 1 0 3 3 0 2.38

Terrero (S, 1) 2.0 1 0 0 2 1 0 5.73

Totals 9.0 4 1 0 10 9 0 3.76

MidlandIPHRERBBSOHRERA

Howard (L, 2-1) 5.0 6 2 1 1 6 1 1.73

Cochran-Gill 2.0 1 0 0 1 2 0 4.50

Duno 2.0 2 1 1 0 2 0 2.53

Totals 9.0 9 3 2 2 10 1 3.57

WP: Duno.

Pitches-strikes: Garabito 89-49; Marte, Y 41-19; Terrero 36-20; Howard 96-56; Cochran-Gill 36-24; Duno 26-18.

Groundouts-flyouts: Garabito 3-3; Marte, Y 1-0; Terrero 3-1; Howard 4-5; Cochran-Gill 3-0; Duno 3-0.

Batters faced: Garabito 22; Marte, Y 10; Terrero 8; Howard 22; Cochran-Gill 8; Duno 8.

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

Weather: 92 degrees, Partly Cloudy.

Wind: 8 mph, R To L.

First pitch: 7:02 PM.

T: 3:06.

Att: 6,561.

Venue: Security Bank Ballpark.

April 27, 2019:

Compiled by MLB Advanced Media

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

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