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TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Travs Three Games Over .500 with Win

June 13, 2011 - Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


North Little Rock -The Travelers took their second victory in a row, defeating the Springfield Cardinals 7-3 on Monday, June 13, in front of an announced crowd of 3,906. The Travs are in first place in the Texas League North division, 1.5 games up on the Tulsa Drillers, with eight games remaining in the first half of the season.

Travs' starter Garrett Richards hit lead-off man D'Marcus Ingram to start the game. Ingram stole second and scored when first baseman Steven Hill hit a one-out single to right field, making it a 1-0 Cardinals' lead.

The Travs (31-28) didn't wait long to respond as they took the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning when Cardinals' starter Maikel Cleto hit right-fielder Angel Castillo with a pitch. The Travs hit three consecutive singles to left field, the last single coming from centerfielder Mike Trout that scored two runs.

After Hill's RBI single, Richards (7-1, 3.55) retired eight in a row and 16 of the next 18 batters. He pitched eight innings and gave up three runs on six hits, striking out six with a walk. It was Richards' fifth win in his past six starts where he has sported a 2.32 ERA.

Nine Travs batted in the bottom of the fifth inning, starting with a double by Trout. After Darwin Perez sacrifice bunted Trout to third, Luis Jimenez hit a high pop up in the infield which the third baseman and shortstop lost the ball in the lights, allowing it to drop for a hit.

With one out and runners at first and third base, designated hitter Roberto Lopez singled to left field to score Trout and give the Travs a 3-1 lead. Jimenez and Lopez advanced to second and third on a wild pitch by Cleto, and the next batter, Gabe Jacobo, hit a grounder to the third baseman Zack Cox. Cox threw home to the catcher and got Jimenez in a rundown. The catcher Audry Perez threw back to Cox and Jimenez broke for home and slid in safely for a 4-1 Travs' lead.

After an intentional walk to Baird to load the bases, Angel Castillo and Carlos Hernandez hit consecutive RBI singles to score two more runs and put the Travs up 6-1.

Cleto (2-2, 3.93) picked up the loss, pitching four and one-third innings. He gave up six runs on 10 hits, striking out two with a walk.

The Travs picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Trout was hit by a pitch, stole second base and scored on a Jimenez single to left field to make it 7-1.

The Cardinals got to Richards for two runs in the top of the seventh inning when he walked Alex Castellanos to start the inning. After a groundout to first base, Perez singled to right field to move Castellanos to second. Charlie Cutler hit an RBI single and two batters later, Ryan Jackson hit an RBI double to make it a 7-3 Travs' lead.

Trout went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored and brought his average up to .327. He has reached base in 24 consecutive games and was named to the Texas League North Division All-Star team, along with eight of his teammates.

Jimenez (also an all star), Lopez and catcher Carlos Ramirez each went 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored, and Castillo went 1 for 3 with a run and an RBI for the Travs. Lopez raised his average to .364 and Jimenez hit his team-leading 40th RBI.

Hill went 2 for 4 for the Cardinals with an RBI, Cutler went 1 for 4 with an RBI and Jackson went 1 for 3 with an RBI. Former Arkansas Razorback Zack Cox went 1 for 4 and central Arkansas native D'Marcus Ingram went 0 for 3 and scored a run.

The Travs outhit the Cardinals 12 to 6 and left seven men on base, hitting 6 for 15 with runners in scoring position. Springfield hit 4 for 9 with RISP and left five men on base.

The Travs look to make it three in a row when they play the Springfield Cardinals on Tuesday, June 13, in the third game of the four-game series. Lefty Trevor Reckling (1-6, 3.90) will start for the Travs and righty Michael Blazek starts for the Cardinals.

Reckling last pitched on June 9, getting the no-decision against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. He pitched four innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits, striking out four with two walks. Blazek recorded his third win in a row on June 9 against Tulsa, pitching six innings. He gave up two runs on five hits, striking out

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