TL1 Arkansas Travelers

Walk-Off Walk Gets Travs Back in Win Column

Published on May 17, 2012 under Texas League (TL1)
Arkansas Travelers News Release


NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A two-out bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 2-2 game to Renny Osuna snapped a five-game losing streak for the Arkansas Travelers as they edged the Springfield Cardinals by a score of 3-2 on Wednesday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Prior to the walk-off, the Travs (15-24) were in danger of spoiling a dominant pitching effort from starter Ariel Pena. The right-hander featured an over-powering fastball and worked in a wipeout slider to keep the Cardinals' (17-22) bats quite through his six innings of work. During his time on the bump, Pena would scatter three hits, walk two, and strikeout eight. The lone mistake Pena made came on a fourth inning Xavier Scruggs solo homerun that landed on the roof of the batting cages in centerfield.

A hitting hero on the evening for the Travs was Angel Castillo. The 22-year old singled home Carlos Ramirez in the bottom of the second inning to stake the Travs to an early 1-0 lead. With the game tied 1-all, Ramirez would come up in the bottom of the fifth inning and belted a liner to left-centerfield for a one-out triple. Castillo would then score the go-ahead run on an Osuna double.

With a one-run lead heading into the top of the ninth inning, Travs reliever Steven Geltz came on to shut the door. Geltz quickly picked up a strikeout for the first out of the inning, but three consecutive hits including a double by Greg Garcia chased home the tying run for the Cards blowing the save for Geltz and forcing a bottom of the ninth. The run was the first earned run of the season for Geltz.

A leadoff single through the left side by Adam Heether put the potential game-winning run on base. Once on first, Heether would be replaced on the base paths by Jean Segura. A popout and strikeout would keep Segura at first base, but Segura would swipe second base during Rian Kiniry's at-bat. Kiniry would eventually draw a walk to bring Castillo to the plate. Already with his first multi-hit game of the season, Castillo collected an infield single to load the bases. With two outs, the winning run on third in the form of Segura, and no where put Osuna, a walk-off walk seemed unlikely. Four pitches later, however, Osuna drew the game-winning walk to give the Travs their first win since May 10th. The win goes to Geltz, who moves to 3-0 on the year.

The Travs will look to earn the series split against the Cardinals on Thursday evening as they will conclude the four-game set with a scheduled first pitch of 7:10 pm.

Check out the Arkansas Travelers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from May 17, 2012


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