TEXAS LEAGUE

Struggling Henry keys Travs' victory

Jabari Henry had struck out three times and was about to face one of the best right-handers in the Kansas City Royals organization in the seventh inning of a tie game Saturday night.

But Henry, hitting .193 since July 1 and .216 for the season, turned on an inside fastball from Miguel Almonte to lace a double down the left field line that scored David Fletcher. Andrew Daniel was thrown out at the plate trying to add another run on the play, but Fletcher's run was enough for the Arkansas Travelers to snag a 3-2 victory over Northwest Arkansas at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

"He's going to be feast or famine," Arkansas Manager Mark Parent said of Henry, with whom he exchanged encouraging words before the at-bat. "It's going to be a homer or it's going to be in the gap. It's very nice to see a kid like that have a good game."

The double was Henry's first extra-base hit in two weeks and was one of 14 hits for the Travs, who with the victory jumped over the Naturals for first place in the Texas League North Division second half. When the Travs' last home stand ended Aug. 21, they trailed by 2½ games. Since then, they have won four of five, the Naturals have lost four of five and the Travs now lead by a ½ game with 10 left.

"I feel like, for some reason, right now we're the loosest we've been the entire season," Henry said. "We have the motto of just 'Drive the bus.' So that's what we've been doing. Everybody's trying to drive the bus."

The Travs went 4 for 14 with runners in scoring position Saturday, and it held up thanks to Jose Molina's five strong innings and four relievers each throwing one shutout inning.

In the opposite dugout, the Naturals weren't convinced Henry's double landed fair.

"A couple of my guys thought it was foul," Naturals Manager Vance Wilson said.

A conversation between Wilson and home plate umpire John Felczak didn't get very far. Wilson said Felczak told him that if he asked third-base umpire Clayton Hamm for a ruling, then that ruling would stand and no other discussion would be needed.

"I'm not going to let an umpire tell me how to react," Wilson said. "So, I was like, 'You go get help, or you won't, and then if you come back, if I want to throw my ... hat out of the stadium, I'm going to throw it out of the stadium.'

"That's a tough call. It's dark down there in the corner, and I don't know if it was fair or foul."

Felczak asked a Travs employee in the Dickey-Stephens press box to see video of the hit after the game. Video wasn't immediately available, but even if it was, the result would be the same -- Henry's RBI double off Almonte, the Royals' No. 5 overall prospect, won a key late-season game.

"I'll take any of our bullpen guys out there," Wilson said. "It doesn't matter which guys are pitching, they've all had great years and they have great stuff. We just got outexecuted."

The Naturals took a 1-0 lead in the first when Terrance Gore stole home on a pickoff attempt to first after singling to center. The Travs went up 2-1 in the second when they strung together four consecutive singles by Caleb Adams, Jose Briceno, Zach Welz and Bo Way. Welz and Way, who drove in runs, were stranded.

The Travs scored enough Saturday night, but they had an opportunity to score plenty more, Parent said. Taking advantage of opportunities was part of a batting practice talk to his team, and what he thinks is essential to close out the division title.

"We've been winning a lot of games by other teams' mistakes," Parent said. "We've got to do that, but we've got to make situational at-bats count more. It was good tonight, but not good enough."

Sports on 08/28/2016

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