Texas League baseball

Missions slip past Travs in ninth

Missions 4, Travelers 3

Arkansas Travelers pitcher Michael Brady did everything except earn a victory Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Brady pitched seven scoreless innings, did not allow a walk and struck out eight San Antonio Missions before leaving with a two-run lead in the eighth inning.

The Travs could not hold on.

Diego Goris lined a game-tying triple in the ninth inning and then scored on a two-out wild pitch as the Missions rallied for a 4-3 victory.

Brady limited the Missions to two hits through the first seven innings as the Travs built a 3-0 advantage, but the right-hander was pulled in the eighth after giving up three consecutive singles.

Left-hander Greg Mahle (2-3) suffered his third blown save, giving up two runs in the ninth as the Travs dropped their eighth decision in their past nine games.

Brady retired the Missions' first seven batters and the first hit he allowed was Louis Domoromo's two-out bunt single in the third. Brady has now pitched 46 innings at Dickey-Stephens Park without issuing a walk but is 2-2 at home, 6-5 overall, for the season.

"I don't think this loss stings any more than another, but I'm disappointed we didn't get the W," Travs Manager Bill Richardson said, before amending his statement. "Maybe that does hurt the most. A starter does that and gets you into the eighth, yes, I'm very disappointed for Michael, but more importantly for this whole Travs ballclub."

Missions Manager Rod Barajas said Brady made it difficult on his team.

"Brady had us off balance and was pitching like a seasoned veteran," Barajas said. "We were just trying to get guys on base and scratch out some runs."

The victory might have been costly for San Antonio. Starting pitcher James Needy fell to the ground clutching his right elbow after throwing a one-ball, two-strike pitch to Raywilly Gomez in the fifth inning.

Needy, a two-time Texas League Pitcher of the Week winner this season and a sixth-round draft pick by the San Diego Padres in 2009, had won five of his six decisions with the Missions entering Friday's game.

For Goris, his ninth-inning triple more than made up for a fourth-inning base-running blunder. The Missions third baseman laced a liner to the deepest part of the park in left-center field, but he took a slow turn around second while attempting to turn the two-out double into a triple.

Goris was thrown out at third by 10 feet.

In the ninth, Goris picked up his second extra-base hit, lining a triple to the right-field corner that drove in Alberth Martinez to tie the game at 3-3.

"After the inning was over, I said that was a ball you're supposed to get to third on, not the other one," Barajas said. "Obviously, he made that mistake earlier on in the game. When you make mistakes, the best thing you can do is turn around and make up for it, do something special."

With Goris at third and one out, Mahle struck out Duael Jones. Mahle also had two strikes on Adolfo Reina but unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Goris to score the winning run.

"You just have to tip your hat to your opponent for hitting some balls in the last couple of innings," Richardson said. "It was a good job for them."

Eury De La Rosa threw only nine pitches in the bottom of the ninth to pick up his third save of the season. Stephen Kolscheen (4-2), who had entered the game in the seventh, picked up the victory.

The Travs had eight hits against the four San Antonio pitchers, but six of them came in the first four innings. Chad Hinshaw singled in a run in the second, and Michael Snyder belted his fifth home run of the season with a leadoff blast to left in the fourth. Gomez brought home a run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly.

Sports on 08/15/2015

Upcoming Events