Bo Way hasn't held the hottest bat for the Arkansas Travelers, but a case could be made he's held the most important.
Way's two-out, two-run triple to center field in the sixth inning broke a tie game and sparked the Travs' 6-2 victory over the Tulsa Drillers on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, their sixth victory in the past eight games.
It was the second time this week Way, who is hitting .190 in July, came up big for the Travs. Three nights after Way's first home run of the season sparked a come-from-behind victory over Springfield, Way broke a 2-2 tie with his fourth triple.
Way, who played center field Thursday, was stopped from attempting an inside-the-park home run by Alex Verdugo's throw from center. Instead, he popped up from third base to pump both fists twice.
"When you can help the team out like that, you get a little excited," he said. "My whole thing is, anything I can do to help the team out. Lately, it's been a couple of RBI, so I'm happy about that. I got to keep it going, though."
His latest big hit came after the Travs had squandered a couple of opportunities to take control. Way was thrown out in the second trying to score from second on Tim Arakawa's single up the middle. Then, in the fifth, Caleb Adams was stranded on third and Arakawa on second when Sean Coyle struck out and Andrew Daniel lined out to left field.
"We give up a lot of stuff that we should be taking advantage of," Travs Manager Mark Parent said.
Then came the sixth, when Alex Yarbrough hit a two-out double to right field. Then Jose Briceno walked and Way worked a count to 1-2 before his line drive to center field.
Way said he considered legging out an inside-the-park home run. He watched the ball graze the glove of Verdugo and roll to the center-field wall while rounding first base. Way was at second when Verdugo tracked it down and threw it to third, but Way had slid in ahead of the throw to give the Travs a 4-2 lead.
They added two more runs in the seventh when Jabari Henry slapped a two-out single into left field to score Arakawa and Coyle.
Way made amends for upsetting Parent when he was thrown out at home in the second. Parent, who coaches third base, said he was trying to get Way to take a bigger lead off second base, but he never did and was thrown out easily by Verdugo from center.
Way is hitting .188 since June 1, but he twice has shown flashes this week of coming around.
"You watch him swing and you start to wonder," Parent said. "Then the next thing you know, somebody throws a pitch where that swing is and it's like, 'Thank you.' "
Alex Blackford had a third solid outing in a row but didn't factor into the decision after giving up two runs in the first when Verdugo and Tyler Ogle hit consecutive singles. But starting with a strikeout of Lars Anderson to end the first, Blackford retired 15 batters in a row before hitting Willie Calhoun with a pitch with two outs in the sixth.
That prompted Parent to bring in Edward Paredes, who pitched three shutout innings before Tyler DeLoach struck out Anderson to end the game.
A string of 10 games in seven days ends with a doubleheader at 6:10 tonight against Tulsa. It's a stretch that had Parent lighten the team's pregame routine and adjust his pitching staff -- three regular relievers will have started -- but one that's seen six victories in eight games.
"I'm proud of the way they're going about their business," he said. "Played hard. They've played pretty clean defense, and that's where you tend to see guys that are just going through the motions."
Sports on 07/22/2016