Blayne Weller entered Tuesday night winless in his first four starts of the season.
The Arkansas Travelers' right-hander hadn't pitched poorly through the season's first month, but a combination of shaky defense, a lack of run support and one bad inning kept him from earning a victory.
It all came together Tuesday when Weller retired the first 10 Tulsa Drillers, allowed two hits through 61/3 innings and the Travs' played without an error in a 2-1 victory at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
"I love winning," said Weller, whose ERA was lowered to 2.96 over 271/3 innings this season. "I hate losing."
Weller's preference for coming out on top was explained as simply as how he was so effective in front of a announced crowd of 3,251 on Tuesday night.
The difference for Weller, 26, was one pitch -- a change-up that he's tinkered with but had not yet mastered for most of his career. The pitch missed and cost him just once Tuesday, when Drillers center fielder Alex Verdugo hit it over the fence in right field to give them a 1-0 lead.
It was used effectively most of the rest of the night, particularly when he struck out first baseman Cody Bellinger -- a top-five Los Angeles Dodgers prospect, according to Baseball America -- in the fourth inning. Weller said that was the first time in his nine professional seasons he's used it to strike a batter out.
"It's something that I need, something that I've been working on, and I really need to focus more on getting it down," he said. "It's becoming another one of my pitches."
Travs Manager Mark Parent had a simpler explanation for Weller's success.
"When he had guys on base, it bothered him," Parent said. "So, I guess his game plan tonight was to not let guys on."
Parent laughed at his answer, but it proved true Tuesday night -- 13 of the 23 batters Weller faced came with nobody on base. It was so clean that Parent even pushed Weller a bit further than the original plan. He gave up a leadoff double to Jacob Scavuzzo in the seventh, and Parent said he left Weller on the mound to face Bellinger a second time. Weller responded by striking him out on four pitches.
"With a good game plan, he went after him and got him and that was good," Parent said.
The positive start opened an eight-game homestand after the biggest roster shuffling of the season. Infielder Sherman Johnson, who was hitting a Texas League-leading .369, was promoted to Class AAA Salt Lake along with outfielder Brandon Bayardi. Troy Scribner, who pitched five no-hit innings Sunday, was sent to extended spring training in Arizona.
Weller was activated from the temporary inactive list in time to pitch Tuesday, while the Travs got infielder Angel Rosa from Salt Lake and outfielder Jabari Henry from Rookie League Orem.
Parent said Johnson, who hit .438 during the recent road trip, might stick with the Bees.
"If he goes up there and plays pretty good, you never know," he said. "If you're playing well, they can't [take] you out. He's going to play for now and get an opportunity to see how it goes."
Henry, who had spent the first four years of his career with Seattle, was the Travs' designated hitter Tuesday. He hit fifth and singled in the second and fifth innings.
"The good thing is we're not too far away from spring training; we're used to guys being in and out," Parent said of all the moves. "You don't decide who goes where. All you can do is your best when you get a chance to play, and that's what they do."
TULSA AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI
Trinkwon, 3b 4 0 0 0 Hinshaw, cf 4 0 2 1
Verdugo, cf 4 1 1 1 Yarbrough, 2b 4 0 2 0
Anderson, dh 3 0 0 0 Daniel, 3b 3 1 0 0
Scavuzzo, lf 4 0 1 0 Aguilera, 1b 4 0 1 0
Bellinger, 1b 3 0 0 0 Henry, dh 4 0 2 0
Calhoun, 2b 3 0 0 0 Towey, rf 3 0 1 1
Hoenecke, c 3 0 0 0 Way, lf 4 0 0 0
Ahart, rf 3 0 0 0 Bemboom, c 3 1 1 0
Maggi, ss 2 0 0 0 Phillips, ss 3 0 1 0
TOTALS 29 1 2 1 TOTALS 32 2 10 2
Tulsa 000 100 000 -- 1 2 1
Arkansas 000 110 00x -- 2 10 0
E -- Trinkwon. LOB -- Tulsa 3, Arkansas 8. 2B -- Scavuzzo, Hinshaw, Towey, Yarbrough 2. HR -- Verdugo (3). SB -- Maggi, Hinshaw. CS -- Hinshaw, Henry.
TULSA IP H R ER BB SO
Oaks L, 1-1 6 8 2 2 2 4
Cash 2 2 0 0 0 4
ARKANSAS IP H R ER BB SO
Weller W, 1-3 6 1/3 2 1 1 1 4
DeLoach 21/3 0 0 0 0 4
Wood S, 3 1/3 0 0 0 0 0
HBP -- by Weller (Maggi). Umpires -- Home: Ceja. First: Oakes. Third: McCrady. Time -- 2:31. Attendance -- 3,251.
Today’s game
TULSA AT ARKANSAS
WHEN 11 a.m.
WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas
WEBSITE travs.com
PITCHERS Travelers: Kyle McGowin (RHP, 3-2, 4.56 ERA); Drillers: Scott Barlow (RHP, 0-2, 3.32)
TICKETS Gates open one hour before first pitch. $13 box, $9 reserved ($6 children), $7 general admission ($5 children)
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY Tulsa, 11 a.m.
THURSDAY Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
FRIDAY Tulsa, 7:10 p.m.
SATURDAY NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
SUNDAY NW Arkansas, 2:10 p.m.
MONDAY NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
TUESDAY NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
Sports on 05/04/2016