Jett Bandy hit his team-leading 10th home run, Tyler DeLoach pitched five scoreless innings in his Class AA debut and the Arkansas Travelers beat the Springfield Cardinals 5-0 on Sunday at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.
DeLoach, who moved to Arkansas from Class A Inland Empire on Thursday, struck out four and held Springfield to two hits while Bandy's three-run home run sparked a four-run fourth as the Travs completed a four-game sweep of the Cardinals. Arkansas begins a six-day homestand Tuesday with a four-game lead in the Texas League North Division second-half standings and 27 games remaining.
The Travs' four-run fourth was set up by Alex Yarbrough's Texas League-leading 35th double and Brian Hernandez' single to put runners on second and third. Mike Bianucci's single scored Yarbrough to give the Travs a 1-0 lead, and Bandy's 10th home run made it 4-0.
Eric Stamets, Maikol Gonzalez and Yarbrough hit consecutive singles in the fifth, with Yarbrough driving in Stamets to give him 63 RBI, which leads the Texas League.
Yarbrough was 2 for 5 on Sunday and hit .412 with 4 RBI in the four-game series.
DeLoach walked 4 but stranded 2 runners in the first and second, 1 runner in the third and fourth and worked a perfect fifth. Reliever Kevin Johnson scattered three hits over two innings, but didn't give up a run, while Jairo Diaz struck out three batters over two innings to close out the Travs' 17th victory in their past 23 games.
Sports on 08/04/2014