San Antonio Missions starting pitcher Matt Branham retired the first 15 Arkansas Travelers he faced Monday afternoon. He didn't allow a hit until the seventh.
Branham's San Antonio teammates did not have nearly as much trouble at the plate.
The Missions salvaged the last of three games with the Travelers with a 10-hit, 8-0 crushing of the Travelers in front of an announced crowd of 3,122 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"What you saw out there was what it was today," Arkansas Travelers Manager Phillip Wellman said. "And it's not that we just can't hit in this ballpark. We can't hit period.
Branham (3-1) pitched one-hit ball for seven innings, allowing a double to Alex Yarbrough in the seventh, before giving way to Luis De La Cruz, who gave up a triple to Eric Komatsu in the eighth. The Travelers tacked on two more hits in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to advance a runner past third.
Wellman gave credit to Branham, but was not pleased with the Travs' either.
"He did a heck of a job, today, but we didn't do anything to help ourselves," Wellman said.
The Missions led 3-0 before batting around in a five-run seventh when they sent 11 men to the plate.
San Antonio took a 1-0 lead when Jason Hagerty hit a 1-1 pitch from Travs starter Kyle McGowin (0-1) into the visitor's bullpen in right-center field to lead off the top of the second inning.
The Missions scored two more runs in the top of the third on run-scoring doubles from right fielder Yeison Asencio and left fielder Rymer Liriano. Ascenio's double to left scored Adam Buschini from second base and Liriano's double, also to left, brought in Asencio from third.
"After struggling the last couple of days against left-handers, I think everybody felt better about seeing a right-hander on the mound," said Francisco Morales, the San Antonio Missions' hitting coach who is serving as interim manager
Kramer Sneed came on in relief of McGowin, who went to the mound in the top of the sixth inning, but left before throwing a warmup pitch.
After the game, Wellman said that he was unaware of any injury to McGowin.
Sneed gave up two runs in 1 1/3 innings of work before being lifted for reliever Kevin Johnson with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh.
Johnson hit the first batter he faced, allowing a third run to score in the top of the seventh. Two more Missions scored with Johnson on the mound, but all three runs were credited to Sneed.
Sports on 05/27/2014