TEXAS LEAGUE: Travelers turn to pitching to find victories

— Two good pitching outings, two victories.

For the second night in a row, solid pitching allowed the Arkansas Travelers to not need much from a patched-together offense as Arkansas won 2-0 over the Springfield Cardinals before an announced crowd of 4,665 Thursday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Arkansas is 2-0 to start the second half of the Texas League season after ending the first half with the worst record in the league. The Travelers enter today in sole possession of first place in the Texas League North Division.

While starter Ryan Brasier led the way with seven solid innings in Wednesday’s victory, Thursday’s pitching was a staff effort. Tommy Mendoza battled command issues over 5 1 /3 innings, but gave up only two hits while striking out five.

“He worked some deep counts for a couple of innings,” Travs Manager Bobby Magallanes said. “But the one thing about Tommy, he’s very competitive. He found a way to control the damage.”

Andrew Taylor came on in relief of Mendoza, and kept two inherited base runners from scoring. Taylor gave way to Daniel Cabrera, who earned his first save as a Traveler with two scoreless innings.

“That’s the thing with our bullpen,” Magallanes said. “This second half, if we can get leads, we have a good shot of winning.”

The Travelers’ lone RBI came in the first inning when Julio Perez singled to score Jeremy Moore, and Arkansas managed only five hits. But with three position players on the disabled list and with one everyday catcher on the roster, the need to manufacture runs and protect small leads is understandable.

“That’s what we have to do,” Magallanes said.

SPRNGFLD AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI Chambers, lf 3 0 0 0 Fuller, cf 4 0 0 0 Cruz, c 4 0 2 0 Ramos, ss 2 0 0 0 Carpenter, 3b 2 0 0 0 Moore, lf 3 1 1 0 Smith, 1b 4 0 0 0 Perez, rf 3 0 1 1 Luna, dh 3 0 0 0 Lopez, c 3 0 0 0 Jones, cf 3 0 0 0 Rosario, c 0 0 0 0 Folli, 2b 2 0 0 0 Navarro, 1b 3 0 0 0 Kozma, ss 3 0 0 0 Nieves, 2b 2 0 1 0 DeJesus, rf 2 0 0 0 Cates, dh 2 1 1 0 Demperio, 3b 3 0 1 0 TOTALS 26 0 2 0 TOTALS 25 2 5 1 Springfield ..............000 000 000 - 0 2 1 Arkansas ................100 000 10x - 3 9 2 E - Cruz. LOB - Springfield 5, Arkansas 5. 2B - Cruz, Nieves. SB - Moore. CS - Cates.

SPRINGFIELD IP H R ER BB SO Daley L, 3-9 6 1 /3 5 2 1 4 4 Eager 1 2 /3 0 0 0 0 1 ARKANSAS IP H R ER BB SO Mendoza W, 1-1 5 1 /3 2 0 0 4 5 Taylor 1 2 /3 0 0 0 0 0 Cabrera S, 1 2 0 0 0 2 2 WP - Daley. HBP - Nieves (by Daley), Moore (by Daley) Umpires - Home: Scheurwater; First: Robson; Third: Bultron. Time - 2:41. Attendance - 4,665 TULSA 12, NORTHWEST ARKANSAS 7

FAYETTEVILLE - Ryan Harvey hit a pair of home runs and Tulsa racked up 18 hits to subdue Northwest Arkansas at Arvest Ballpark.

The Drillers (1-1) took out some frustrations against the Naturals (1-1) while avoiding a four-game sweep. Both teams managed 32 runs in the series, but the Naturals won three.

Tulsa banged out six extra-base hits and improved to 4-11 against the Naturals, winner of the Texas League North in the first half.

Travelers at a glance

WHO Arkansas vs. Northwest Arkansas WHEN 7:10 p.m. today WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock PITCHERS Travelers: Michael Anton (lefthander, 3-5, 4.43 ERA); Naturals: TBD RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in Little Rock; KQSM-FM 92.1 in Northwest Arkansas WEBSITE travs.com; nwanaturals.com TICKETS Gates open one hour before first pitch. Tickets are $12 box seats, $8 reserved, $7 military, $3 children.

PROMOTIONS First 2,000 fans get a Dickey-Stephens Park snow globe. Free gift from Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar if Travelers lose. Free samples of Fruit Roll-Ups. Kids run the bases after the game.

SHORT HOPS Starting pitcher Trevor Reckling has been transferred to Arkansas from Class AAA Salt Lake. ... Northwest Arkansas’ Mike Moustakas and Clint Robinson lead the Texas League in slugging percentage at .718 and .518, respectively.

THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY vs. NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.

SATURDAY vs. NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m. SUNDAY vs. NW Arkansas, 6 p.m.

MONDAY vs. NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.

TUESDAY Off WEDNESDAY Off THURSDAY at Midland, 7 p.m.

Sports, Pages 26 on 06/25/2010

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