LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Travelers are still working through an offensive slump, but as long as they get pitching outings like what they got from Michael Anton on Thursday night, it’s not going to matter.
The left-hander was dominant in a 4-0 victory over the Springfield Cardinals before an announced crowd of 4,517 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. Anton gave up 2 hits over 7 1 /3 innings, striking out 7.
“This is the deepest I’ve pitched in a ballgame this year,” Anton said. “And that’s my goal, to go as deep as I can.”
A spot-on start from Anton wasn’t just welcome, it was needed. Arkansas entered Thursday having scored two runs over the first two games of the three-game series with the Cardinals, this despite improved offensive numbers over the past month.
“They weren’t taking really good swings off of him,”Arkansas Manager Bobby Magallanes said. “The thing is, he was mixing his pitches. When you can throw strikes with your off-speed, and you can throw strikes with your fastball, you’re going to keep other teams guessing. They can’t really sit on anything.”
The lack of punch over theprevious two days had the Travelers looking to manufacture runs early, and it paid off in the bottom of the first inning when Andrew Romine laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Tyson Auer to third base. Charlton Jimerson then singled to bring Auer home, and after stealing second, Jimerson scored on a single by Jeremy Moore.
Arkansas held with a 2-0 lead for the first five innings as the Cardinals struggled to solve Anton. Springfield wouldn’t have a hit until the fifth, and even then it came via an infield single from Tommy Pham, who barely beat out a throw to first from third baseman Ryan Mount.
Anton wouldn’t give up another hit until the eighth, when Jose Garcia singled to left field. Things didn’t improve for the Cardinals in Anton’s absence, with Ysmael Carmona getting his fifth save of the season by giving up just one hit over the final 1 2 /3 innings.
Carmona, who struggled in his first months in Class AA, has become one of the top members of the Travelers bullpen, having lowered his ERA to 2.88.
“We’re proud of him,” Magallanes said. “This kid is a guy we’re really high on. He’s really disciplined himself to keep working and doing things right. And it’s paying off right now. We’re happy to see those results.”SPRNGFLD AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI Jones, cf 2 0 0 0 Auer, lf 5 1 1 0 Kozma, ss 3 0 0 0 Romine, ss 3 0 0 0 Carpenter, 3b 4 0 0 0 Amarista, 2b 4 0 1 0 Brown, dh 4 0 1 0 Jimerson, dh 4 1 1 1 Scruggs, 1b 4 0 0 0 Moore, cf 3 0 2 1 Swauger, rf 3 0 0 0 Gorneault, rf 4 1 3 0 Pham, lf 2 0 1 0 Mount, 3b 3 1 1 0 Cruz, c 2 0 0 0 Lopez, c 3 0 0 0 Garcia, 2b 3 0 1 0 Navarro, 1b 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 27 0 3 0 TOTALS29 4 9 2 Springfield ...................000 000 000 - 0 3 2 Arkansas .....................200 001 01x - 4 9 0 E - Garcia, Pham. DP - Springfield 1, Arkansas 1. LOB - Springfield 5, Arkansas 9. 2B - Auer, Mount. S - Romine. SB - Jones, Jimerson, Mount. CS - Moore.
SPRINGFIELD IP H R ER BB SO Nieto L, 0-2 6 7 3 3 4 3 Buursma 1 1 0 0 0 0 Eager 1 1 1 1 1 1 ARKANSAS IP H R ER BB SO Anton W, 5-7 7 1 /3 2 0 0 3 7 Carmona S, 5 1 2 /3 1 0 0 0 1 WP - Nieto 2, Eager. HBP - Mount (by Eager), Cruz (by Anton), Jones (by Anton). PB - Cruz. Umpires - Home: Volpi; First: Misun; Third: Oliver. Time - 2:36. Attendance - 4,517DRILLERS 5, NATURALS 3
TULSA - Northwest Arkansas continued its first-inning struggles Thursday, and Bronson Sardinha provided the decisive blow again for Tulsa to give the Drillers a 5-3 victory before an announced crowd of 6,403 at OneOK Field.
Tulsa scored five runs in the first inning, including two on Sardinha’s sixth home run of the year, and held off the Naturals to win the three-game series and pull to within a half game of Northwest Arkansas in the Texas League North Division standings.
Sardinha, who is batting .397 with 4 home runs and 18 RBI in July, went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI Thursday after walking with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give Tulsa the game-winning run Tuesday. He went 4 for 8 with 3 RBI in the series.
Travelers at a glance WHO Arkansas vs. Tulsa WHEN 7:10 p.m. Central today WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock PITCHERS Travelers: Ryan Brasier (righthander, 5-8, 5.74 ERA); Drillers: TBD RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in Little Rock WEBSITE travs.com TICKETS Gates open one hour before first pitch. Tickets are $12 box seats, $6 adult general admission, $8 reserved, $7 military, $3 children.
PROMOTIONS Free Travelers camouflage cap to the first 2,000 adults. Fans get free coupon from Boston’s Pizza if Travelers lose.
THE WEEK AHEAD TODAY vs. Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
SATURDAY vs. Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
SUNDAY vs. Tulsa, 6 p.m.
MONDAY vs. Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
TUESDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
WEDNESDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
THURSDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
Sports, Pages 23 on 07/30/2010