Sherman Johnson stood on third base late Friday night ready to break for home and test the arm of Yadir Drake in right field no matter where Brian Hernandez' fly ball landed.
"It's a good athlete out in right, and a good athlete at third base, let's go," Arkansas Travelers Manager Bill Richardson said.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS VS. TULSA
WHEN 7:10 p.m.
WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas
WEBSITE travs.com PITCHERS Travs: Austin Wood (RHP, 4-0, 3.63 ERA); Drillers: Daniel Corcino (0-0, 13.50)
TICKETS Gates open 1 hour before first pitch. $13 box, $9 reserved ($6 children), $7 general admission ($5 children).
PROMOTIONS First 1,000 fans receive team card sets.
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
SUNDAY Tulsa, 2:10 p.m.
MONDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.
TUESDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.
WEDNESDAY at NW Arkansas, 11:05 a.m.
THURSDAY at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.
FRIDAY at Springfield, 7:10 p.m.
Johnson never got the chance to see if he'd beat Drake's arm. Hernandez' shallow fly skipped off Drake's glove and fell to the grass, allowing Johnson to score and give the Travelers a 1-0 victory in 11 innings over the Tulsa Drillers at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"I was running, I didn't even see the play," said Johnson, who realized he was scoring easily when on-deck batter Wade Hinkle signaled for him not to slide. "I was running and I saw Wade Hinkle's hands up and I was like 'What's going on?' Then they told me, so I didn't even see it."
Johnson's run, set up a by a single to left, a sacrifice bunt by Drew Maggi and a wild pitch, ended a game in which the Travs were held to 6 hits, left 8 runners on base, wasted their only two opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position and struck out 14 times.
Johnson singled in the first, but the Travs didn't get another hit until the sixth inning. They didn't advance a runner to second base until the 10th and Johnson was the only runner the Travs had reach third base.
The Los Angeles Angels want their minor-league teams running aggressively, Richardson said, which is part of why Johnson was going to attempt to tag from third base. But the Travs' inability to get much going against five Drillers pitchers was another factor.
So when Hernandez hit an 0-1 pitch into right field, the Travs' banked on their lead-off hitter delivering their sixth one-run victory over the Drillers this year.
"I thought it had a chance," Hernandez said. "Sherman runs well. That's what I was trying to do, just hit the ball and put it in the air and have a chance."
Five Travelers pitchers teamed up to hold Tulsa scoreless, making up for a struggling offense, and allowing the Travelers to win their second consecutive.
Starter Tyler DeLoach held Tulsa to 2 hits and struck out 8 in 6 innings, while Michael Brady pitched two shutout innings and Trevor Gott pitched a hitless ninth. Austin Adams, making his Class AA debut after being promoted from Class A Inland Empire on Friday, walked the bases loaded in the 10th. But right-hander Kurt Spomer struck out two and then induced a ground ball to get out of the jam.
Spomer then pitched around a two-out single in the 12th and earned his first victory since last July 14.
"Outstanding performance," Richardson said. "He had it mapped out and executed a plan. That's why we do it is for performances like that."
CARDINALS 6, NATURALS 5
Springfield opened a 6-2 lead after seven innings Friday night then held on against Northwest Arkansas at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
The Naturals cut the lead to 6-5 with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the eighth inning. They had runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Springfield closer Heath Wyatt got Hunter Dozier to line out to first base the end the game. Balbino Fuenmayor led the Northwest Arkansas offense by going 2 for 4, including his eighth home run of the year, a two-run shot in the sixth inning. He added a run-scoring double in the Naturals’ three-run eighth.
Sports on 05/16/2015