Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline is more than three weeks away, but the affects of early moves trickled down to Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock on Saturday night.
The Arkansas Travelers hosted the Midland RockHounds to open a three-game series Saturday in the first game since their respective parent clubs made moves to bolster their rosters while competing against each other at the top of the American League West.
D'Arby Myers' sacrifice fly in the third inning was all the RockHounds needed to earn a 1-0 victory as the Travs were held to four hits in front of an announced crowd of 5,191.
It all happened less than 24 hours after the Los Angeles Angels traded Travs outfielder Zach Borenstein to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a move to acquire reliever Joe Thatcher and the Oakland Athletics traded RockHounds standout shortstop Addison Russell to the Chicago Cubs in a move that included starter Jeff Samardzija.
"That's what minor-league baseball is all about, to service the big-league club," Midland Manager Aaron Nieckula said. "That's what it's all about, winning a world championship and we just want to do our part."
The lone run stood up when the Travs stranded runners in scoring position in four of the final five innings and they left the bases loaded in the ninth. After loading the bases with no outs, Jose Flores struck out Kaleb Cowart, got Eric Stamets to pop out to the catcher and Maikol Gonzalez struck out as the Travs lost their fourth in a row.
"Poor execution," Arkansas Manager Phillip Wellman said. "You don't even need a hit there. Just hit it."
Most of the excitement happened well before the game Saturday.
The Travs learned Friday night that Borenstein, the Los Angeles Angels' No. 9 prospect according to Baseball America, was involved in the Angels' trade and he flew out of Little Rock on Saturday morning bound for Class AA Mobile.
In an even further effort to improve a struggling bullpen, the Angels also purchased the contract of Travs starter Michael Roth, who also left Little Rock on Saturday for Los Angeles to join the Angels for their series against the Houston Astros.
Roth, who is 7-1 for the Travs since being designated for assignment and taken off the Angels' 40-man roster in May, was scheduled to start for the Travs on Saturday. Instead, reliever Michael Brady made his second career start and held the RockHounds to 1 run on 3 hits over 4 innings.
Wellman said it's never easy to lose a player, but he urged Borenstein to take the trade as a positive.
"I told him, 'Guess why the Diamondbacks got you in a trade. Because they wanted you. They don't make trades for people they don't want,' " Wellman said. "You should feel wanted. They knew you were a prospect here, you're going to be a prospect there."
In Russell, the RockHounds lost the A's No. 1 prospect who was hitting .333 after missing most of the first half of the season with a hamstring injury. Russell was told after Friday's game at Northwest Arkansas and reported to Class AA Tennessee.
"He's been really important, part of the machine," Nieckula said. "We're just going to have to find a way to get it done otherwise."
In another roster adjustment made because of the Angels' shuffling of players, the Travs received outfielder Matt Long from Class AAA Salt Lake. He started last year at Arkansas but has spent most of the past two years in Salt Lake before being sent down to make room for outfielder Tony Campana, who was also acquired in Saturday's trade.
Long went 1 for 3 on Saturday while playing center field.
"It's just the nature of the beast," Long said of the demotion. "There's a trickle-down affect. The same thing happens in spring training, so it's something that you get used to."
Sports on 07/06/2014