Stagnated Travs can't create stir

The best chance for the punchless Arkansas Travelers came in the fifth inning on Sunday.

So, from the third-base coach's box, Manager Mark Parent flashed his signal to send runners on first and second in motion on the pitch, hoping Alex Yarbrough would make some sort of contact, or watch ball four.

Neither of those happened. Facing a full count, Yarbrough swung and missed at a third strike, and Bo Way, who was on second base, was easily thrown out at third to effectively end the threat in a 10-2 loss to the Springfield Cardinals in front of an announced crowd of 4,325 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

"Sometimes you've got to roll the dice," Parent said.

Considering the Travs' offensive output through the first two weeks of the season, that might be the formula needed to win most nights in the Texas League this season.

The Travs scraped together eight hits on Sunday, but like the five in Saturday's loss, all of them were singles. Not since Anthony Bemboom's seventh-inning double in a victory Friday night have the Travs managed an extra base hit, a string of 201/3 consecutive innings. The Travs' 28 extra-base hit in 16 games ranks them last in the Texas League in that category.

It's why Parent put runners in motion in the fifth to try to get something going, with the Travs trailing 5-2, after Way singled to right field and Chad Hinshaw reached on a bunt single with nobody out.

That brought up Yarbrough, who entered the day hitting .313. He worked the count full before Parent put runners in motion, and Yarbrough swung at strike three and Way was thrown out by catcher Carson Kelly.

"We're just getting in motion, and relying on the hitter to get the bat on the ball," Parent said. "Sometimes you've just got to remember where you're at, and just let them play and if they make a mistake, then we'll go over there and talk to them about it."

The Travs were held to one single the rest of the game as Springfield added two runs in the seventh and eighth and one in the ninth to gain a split of the four-game series.

Hinshaw, who had two singles and was 5 of 12 over the last three games of the series, said he's not worried just yet about the absence of big hits. Hinshaw came as close as any Travs player to an extra-base hit in the seventh when he lined to center field with Way on first.

Two batters later, first baseman Eric Aguilera turned on a 2-2 pitch to loft it down the right-field line. Aguilera thought it was his fourth home run, but first base umpire Nate Tomlinson called it foul, and Aguilera, following a short protest return tot he box, where he later struck out.

Opinions were split in the Travs clubhouse postgame. Parent said he thought it was foul after talking to infielder Andrew Daniel, who was coaching first base. An assistant coach and a Los Angeles Angels representative, both thought it was fair. Either way, it went down as another missed chance for the Travs.

"You want to get that big knock every time, but again, there's another at bat," Hinshaw said. "Not worried at all. You're just trying to have good at bats, a good approach. If it's a single, it's a single. You're centimeters from a double."

Starter Kyle McGowin took his first loss since opening night, giving up 5 runs, 2 earned, on 6 hits in 4 1/3 innings. Chris Jacobs reached on a passed ball on a third strike and later scored on a ground out. David Washington drove in two runs with a double to make it 3-0 Springfield, the sixth time the Travs have let the opponent score first this season. Arkansas has lost all six of those games.

"We've just got to stop getting in a hole," Parent said. "We've got to avoid that."

Sports on 04/25/2016

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