Chris Ellis had to wait nine days between starts, but it was worth it for the Arkansas Travelers pitcher.
Ellis, a former star for Ole Miss, pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings as the Travs earned a 3-1 victory over the Tulsa Drillers in front of 4,139 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park In North Little Rock on Thursday night.
"It was his longest outing [of the season], and he had a lot more in there, too," Travelers Manager Bill Richardson said. "He was under a pitch count, but I'm very pleased with his performance. He's been biting at the bit since we skipped his start. It was an outstanding job."
Ellis (5-1) allowed 3 hits, struck out 2 and walked 4. He threw 99 pitches, 58 of which were for strikes. It was his first time on the mound since taking a loss to Springfield on July 20.
"I used it as down time to work on things," Ellis said of the time between starts. "When you're in the heat of the season and you've got only four days between starts, you can't work on much. When you have nine days off, it's nice to be able to work on some things."
The Travs backed Ellis' effort with an 11-hit attack, including nine in the first four innings.
Arkansas banged out six doubles and 10 Travelers combined for the 11 hits.
In Wednesday's 12-9 victory over Northwest Arkansas, the Travs had 14 hits.
"We're just coming out here and being aggressive," said third baseman Brian Hernandez, the only Traveler to post two hits Thursday. "We've been taking good swings and the ball is finally dropping for us. Early in the season, we were hitting the ball hard and they were falling into gloves. The last couple of games, it's been turning our way."
Arkansas squandered Drew Maggi's double to start the game, but the Travs scored single runs in the next three innings off Tulsa starter Jeremy Kehrt (6-8).
Hernandez doubled to start the second and scored on Cal Towey's one-out double.
Back-to-back one-out singles by Blake Gailen and Wade Hinkle started a third-inning rally, and Raywilly Gomez brought home Gailen for the Travs' second run.
Anthony Bemboom doubled to start the fourth inning and scored on Chad Hinshaw's one-out single.
Arkansas left 11 men on base and was only 4 of 20 with runners in scoring position, but the Travs had enough offense to back Ellis.
"It's nice when you're pitching and you can go out there and get three quick outs and then your teammates follow that up with a double and a run," said Ellis, who lowered his season earned-run average to 3.12. "That's all you can ask for as a pitcher."
"He did an amazing job," Hernandez said of Ellis. "He pounded the strike zone and kept us on our toes. It was really fun to play defense behind him. It's really fun to go out there when a pitcher is able to have the night like he had."
Tulsa's Lars Anderson belted a 394-foot home run with two outs in the eighth inning off reliever Chris O'Grady.
Danny Reynolds earned his sixth save, but there were some anxious moments in the ninth. Kyle Farmer led off the inning with a line single to center and with one out, Erisbel Arruebarrena reached when Hernandez failed to handle a sharply hit ground ball.
Reynolds, however, got out of the jam on back-to-back fly balls to Towey in right field, the last of which came when the outfielder made a diving catch of Jeremy Rathjen's sinking line drive.
Sports on 07/31/2015