LITTLE ROCK — Make that 13 victories for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals against the Arkansas Travelers this year.
The Travelers’ 2-0 start to the second half of the Texas League season did little to change their recent history with their in-state rivals, with Northwest Arkansas opening a four-game series with a 5-2 victory before an announced crowd of 4,820 Friday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
The Naturals have only lost four times to Arkansas all season, and are 8-1 at Dickey-Stephens Park. Friday, they demonstrated they could do it at less than full strength. Third baseman Mike Moustakas, who leads the league in almost every major offensive category, sat out the game to serve a suspension due to his ejection in a game Wednesday.
Plus, Northwest Arkansas was operating with an unknown commodity on the mound, with right-hander Alex Caldera making his Class AA debut.
It didn’t matter.
Caldera, who was 6-4 with a 3.25 ERA at Class A Wilmington, shut out the Travelers for the first 4 innings, and ended up scattering 4 hits and 2 runs over 5 1 /3 innings, striking out 3.
“Our starting pitching, for the last week to 10 days, has not done well,” Northwest Arkansas Manager Brian Poldberg said. “That was something that was nice to see. He gave us a chance. I saw him once in spring training and had an idea what he had, but you never know until they get to this level.”
The Naturals also didn’t miss Moustakas’ power. Clint Robinson went 3 for 4, and Paulo Orlando and Anthony Seratelli had two hits each. Northwest Arkansas had four doubles, two from Robinson.
“It didn’t really change our strategy,” Poldberg said of Moustakas’ absence. “It shortened our lineup a little bit.”
Travs left-hander Mike Anton kept the Naturals lineup mostly quiet until the fourth inning, when Nick Van Stratten scored on a fielder’s choice by Orlando. Seratelli later chipped in with an RBIsingle as part of a three-run inning.
That kept Northwest Arkansas ahead, even after the Travelers scored two runs in the fifth on an RBI single from Abel Nieves and an RBI double from Richard Cates.
The fifth inning marked the first real noise Arkansas made against Caldera, who benefited from having never been seen by the Travelers’ hitters.
“As a hitter, you don’t know what the guy’s throwing,” Arkansas Manager Bobby Magallanes said. “You’re kind of seeing what he’s got. The second time around, you have more of a read on a pitcher, but we didn’t really have a lot of chances.”
Indeed, while the Naturals had 15 runners in scoring position, Arkansas had five.
The Travelers did get some good news by having Andrew Romine available in the dugout. Romine, Arkansas’ everyday shortstop, has missed this entire home stand with arm problems, and while Magallanes said soreness may still keep him out of the lineup for the series, he should be on the down slope of his recovery.
Meanwhile, Arkansas made more moves to fill its injury-depleted roster, receiving left-hander Will Smith from Class AAA Salt Lake and outfielder Tyson Auer from Class A Rancho Cucamonga.
Magallanes said Smith will join the starting rotation, and that Auer will likely contribute immediately. Auer hit .332 with Rancho Cucamonga.
“Tyson’s a phenomenal center fielder,” Magallanes said. “But he can play all spots. He’s a very good defender. We can move him around a little.”At a glance WHO Arkansas vs. Northwest Arkansas WHEN 7:10 p.m. today WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock PITCHERS Travelers: Tyler Chatwood (right-hander, 0-1, 20.25 ERA); Naturals: Aaron Crow (right-hander, 2-1, 11.66) 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 Fireworks after the game.
Fans can receive free exit samples of Fruit Roll-Ups.
SHORT HOPS Travelers right-hander Tommy Mendoza has been transferred to Class AAA Salt Lake. Travelers outfielder Clay Fuller has been transferred to Class A Rancho Cucamonga. Left-hander Will Smith has been transferred to Arkansas from Salt Lake. Outfielder Tyson Auer has been transferred to Arkansas from Rancho Cucamonga. ... Naturals third baseman Mike Moustakas sat out Friday’s game to serve a suspension for being ejected from a previous game.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/26/2010