The Arkansas Travelers' bullpen blew a lead for a second night in a row Saturday, but it might not have if not for an overturned call Saturday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Austin Adams allowed three runs in the seventh inning, Eduard Santos gave up three in the ninth and Kyle Winkler allowed three in the 12th as the Travs blew a six-run lead in a 10-7 loss to the San Antonio Missions.
In front of an announced crowd of 9,380, the largest to see a Travs home game in six seasons, the bullpen issued 9 walks and gave up 9 runs in 5 innings one night after reliever Greg Mahle gave up two runs in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss to the Missions.
"Am I disappointed in the performance? Sure," Arkansas Manager Bill Richardson said. "But, it's a team thing. We've just got to dig deep."
The Travs might have won even with the three runs Santos allowed in the ninth inning if a call by first base umpire Clatyon Hamm in the fifth inning hadn't been overturned a call by third base umpire Clay Park.
With the Travs leading 4-0 and two runners on, Cal Towey hit a change-up from Missions starter Dennis O'Grady to right field. Towey originally slowed to a stop at second base but began to run home when Hamm signaled the hit was a home run. The scoreboard at Dickey-Stephens momentarily showed the Travs leading 7-0, but after a meeting Park changed the call to a ground-ruled double, meaning Towey's run didn't count and leaving the Travs with a 6-0 lead instead.
"I was just running. I had no idea," Towey said. "I don't think it went out but, shoot, it's just tough to lose a game like that."
Richardson felt better after the game knowing the ball likely didn't go out either. Richardson said Park told him the ball bounced on the warning track and over the fence, and Richardson said pitchers in the bullpen told him the same thing.
It was the second time in the homestand the Travs have had a home run overturned by the same umpire crew. Michael Snyder had a home run changed to a double in Tuesday's loss to Corpus Christi.
"I have to say they were both done correctly," Richardson said. "So, we can cry over our lack of execution or that we're getting screwed by the umpires, which we're not. ... Bottom line is, we didn't want something we didn't earn."
Blake Gailen's RBI single in the sixth gave the Travs a 7-1 lead, and starter Kyle McGowin's night was finished after holding the Missions to 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings. That's when things went south for the Travs.
Adams walked the first two batters to start the seventh, retired the next two out, then gave up an RBI single to Adolfo Reina and a two-run single to Casey McElroy to make it 7-4.
In the ninth, Santos walked the first two batters then gave up a three-run home run to McElroy that tied the game at 7-7. In the 11th, Winkler walked the bases later before Renfroe hit a three-run double to the gap in left-center field.
The Travs walked 10 batters Saturday, seven of which ended up scoring.
"It's situations that are really good that we're in," Richardson said. "It's just disappointing how we're handling them."
Sports on 08/16/2015