TL1 Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Teaford, Naturals even series with Cards

Published on September 10, 2010 under Texas League (TL1)
Northwest Arkansas Naturals News Release


SPRINGDALE, AR- Everett Teaford turned in seven scoreless frames and Eric Hosmer drove in a pair of runs including a homer as the Naturals evened up their playoff series with the Springfield Cardinals with a 5-2 win Friday night at Arvest Ballpark.

Teaford, who led the Texas League in victories during the regular season with 14, allowed just three hits and a walk and fanned six. Springfield could never get the bats going and had just one runner reach second base against the left-hander. Meanwhile, the Naturals scratched out a run in each of the first two innings and clung to that lead before getting some insurance in the sixth and seventh.

The speedy Derrick Robinson started off the Naturals' side of the first with a nicely placed bunt single down the first base line. Cardinals' starter David Kopp fielded the ball and threw errantly as he fell to the ground. His throw to first base went wide of the bag and dribbled towards the wall as Robinson clicked on another gear as he rounded second base and just beat out a throw into third. Johnny Giavotella followed with a sacrifice fly to center and Robinson slid in safely for the game's first run. Anthony Seratelli hit a one-out homer in the second to extend the lead to 2-0.

Eric Hosmer's homer led off the sixth and put the Naturals up 3-0. Kopp, who was second in the league to Teaford in wins this season with 12, departed after 5 1/3 innings. He allowed five hits and four walks while recording five outs via strikeout.

The Naturals added some insurance in the seventh off of Springfield reliever Matt Frevert, making his Texas League debut. Giavotella singled with one out and Eric Hosmer followed with a triple to deep left-center. Cardinals' shortstop Pete Kozma, Thursday night's hero with two homers, air mailed the relay throw to third past the glove of Matt Carpenter and into the Springfield dugout as Hosmer crossed the plate for the 5-0 lead.

Springfield mounted a rally to start the ninth against Naturals' reliever Henry Barrera. Aaron Luna, Andrew Brown, and Matt Carpenter hit back-to-back singles to start the frame, with Carpenter's scoring Luna, cutting the lead to 5-1. But pinch hitter Chris Swauger grounded into a double play, which scored Brown from third but got the Naturals one out from a win.

Jose Garcia followed with a two-out walk and DeJesus singled to move Garcia to third, bringing up the tying run, light hitting catcher Nick Derba. Barrera was able to get him to pop out to shallow right to end the game.

With the series now tied at one game apiece, the Naturals now head to Springfield for the next two games of the series. Left-hander John Lamb (2-1, 5.45) is set to go for the Naturals opposite right-hander Brian Broderick (11-2, 2.77) for Springfield. First Pitch is set for 6:10 P.M, and you can listen live online or on ESPN 92.1 the Ticket.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. The Naturals have a toll-free ticket hotline (1-877-444-2637) for fans to purchase Naturals tickets. Our website, nwanaturals.com offers fans the opportunity to purchase tickets online and avoid lines at the ticket windows by printing their tickets at home or at the office.

Check out the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Statistics

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Texas League Stories from September 10, 2010


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