The Arkansas Travelers’ chances at a sweep in their first home series were dashed by a 21-year-old pitcher making his second Class AA start.
Raul Alcantara kept the Travelers guessing over 6 2/3 innings, holding them to five hits in Midland’s 3-2 victory in front of an announced crowd of 6,150 on Saturday at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Alcantara, a 6-3, 225-pounder ranked as the Oakland Athletics’ top pitching prospect, struck out 7 Travelers, walked 1 and threw 60 of his 85 pitches for strikes to lower his ERA to 0.61 over his first 2 starts.He left Dickey-Stephens with his second victory in as many starts and the respect of Arkansas Travelers Manager Phillip Wellman.
“That’s a special arm right there,” Wellman said. “I thinkwe’ll be watching him on TV here in the near future.”
Alcantara, who allowed 1 run over 8 innings in a victory over Northwest Arkansas on April 6, gave up his only run Saturday in the third when Eric Stamets led off with a single and scored on Kaleb Cowart’s ground out that cut Midland’s lead to 2-1.
He then pitched around two singles in the fourth and fifth and retired the final six batters he faced.
Travelers hitters worked Alcantara to a three-ball count once in 27 at bats, and that was when Cowart walked on four pitches in the first.
All six of the Travs’ hits were singles, and two of their five off Alcantara didn’t leave the infield.
His ability to locate all four pitches - fastball, change-up, slider and curveball - for strikes thwarted a Travs’ plan to get into the RockHounds’ bullpen sooner than they eventually did.
“When you get a couple of at bats off the same guy, and you feel like you have a rhythm and he’s still getting you out, it’s frustrating,” Stamets said. “There’s only so many strikes we have to work with, so it forced our swings.”
The Travelers’ lineup was missing a big piece when second baseman Alex Yarbrough, who was hitting .344 before Saturday, was given the day off.
That put Shawn O’Malley,hitting .143 before the game, in the No. 2 hole, but Wellman said he wasn’t sure if it mattered considering they were facing Alcantara.
The Travs’ being held to 1 run on 6 hits came a night after being held to 5 hits in a 2-1 victory over Midland.
“It’s too early to get too excited about anything or too concerned about anything,” Wellman said.
“We’ll see tomorrow. Some guys took some pretty good at bats, some guys not so good at bats.”
Arkansas fell into an early hole when left-handed starter Kramer Sneed struggled with his command in the early innings.
Sneed gave up a single in the first to Billy Burns, who later scored on a sacrifice fly to put Midland up 1-0. In the second, Jefry Marte hit his first home run to put Midland up 2-0.
Sneed was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the third with a strikeout and a ground out, but he walked 4 and threw 77 pitches over 4 innings.
The Travs added a run in the ninth when Jett Bandy reached on an error and scored on Stamets’ single to left, but he was stranded when Yarbrough, pinch-hitting for Andy Workman, struck out to end the game.
“This early in the season, I like to see our team put under stressful situations, adverse situations and see how they’re going to react,” Wellman said.
“That tells me about them and us. We got the tying run on base, and kept battling.”Today’s game ARKANSAS VS. FRISCO WHEN 4:10 p.m.
WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas WEBSITE travs.com PITCHERS Travelers: Yeiper Castillo (RHP, 1-0, 1.80 ERA); RoughRiders: Matt Harrison (LHP, 0-0, 1.93) TICKETS $12 box seats, $8 reserved ($5 children), $6 general admission ($4 children). Gates open 1 hour before game. PROMOTIONS First 1,500 fans receive free Travelers calenders. Postgame flying disc toss. Fans can pay $1 for a chance to toss a flying disc through the window of an Acura after the game.
TRAVELERS WEEK AHEAD TODAY Frisco, 4:10 p.m.
MONDAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m.
TUESDAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m.
WEDNESDAY off
THURSDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
FRIDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
SATURDAY at Springfield, 6:10 p.m.
FRIDAY’S GAMES Frisco 2, Northwest Arkansas 1 Arkansas 2, Midland 1 Springfield 8, San Antonio 4 Tulsa 10, Corpus Christi 9
SATURDAY’S GAMES Frisco 15, Northwest Arkansas 2 Midland 3, Arkansas 2 San Antonio 3, Springfield 2 Corpus Christi 3, Tulsa 2, 10 innings
TODAY’S GAMES All times Central
Springfield at Corpus Christi, 1:10 p.m.
Tulsa at San Antonio, 2:05 p.m.
Midland at NW Arkansas, 2:05 p.m.
Frisco at Arkansas, 4:10 p.m.
Sports, Pages 39 on 04/13/2014